Shadows of the Past Victims of the Future
by dadofmad007
Summary: When Naruto suddenly views some events in his unexpected daydreams and gains knowledge that Chakra is not the only energy of the Elemental Nations. There exists an ancient Force which can be used... a Tool that is bestowed by Gods, he begins to see the world in a way that made him slightly selfish, aggressive and manipulative. Alive Minato and Kushina, Blood limit Naruto, and Oc's.
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings, my fellow Naruto fans this my improved version of "The Mortal Who Ascended" so please enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any anime but I do owe this Tale.**

* * *

 ** _Konohagakure no Sato, 13 years after the Kyūbi attack,_**

Konoha, A village which is known for its conchy ideals, is strongest village in the Elemental Nations and victor in the past three great ninja wars. Konoha is currently decorated with lights from top to the bottom. People are celebrating Kyūbi festival. This annual event which is very popular among the villagers as this is the day of their victory over Kyūbi no Yoko.

13 years have passed since that horrible night where the powerful Bijū known as the Kyūbi no Yoko attacked the village of Konoha, destroying it almost completely and killing a big part of its population. It was only thanks to the actions of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, that the beast was defeated. The Fourth knew that killing a **Bijū** was almost impossible, so he did the only other thing that could defeat it. He sealed it in the body of a newborn child.

The Fourth, being the person he is, could not bring himself to ask any other family to sacrifice their children, so with a heavy heart he sealed half of the **Bijū (Tailed Beast)** in his youngest new born daughter, the Ying part of its chakra was sealed into his only daughter, Uzumaki Namikaze Mio, meanwhile the Yang part of the chakra was resealed in his wife, Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina.

For such a marvelous feat the Fourth had to use the powerful **_Shiki Fūjin_** _(_ _ **Dead Demon Consuming Seal**_ _)_ , summoning the Shinigami himself and asking him to split the Kyūbi in exchange for his own soul. Minato was more than ready to give his own life to protect the village he loves, knowing that his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, would have been able to take care of the children even without him, so guess his surprise when the Shinigami just brushed him off, telling him that for this job, a payment of the soul was not needed. The user of the **_Hiraishin no Jutsu_** _(_ _ **Flying Thunder God Technique**_ _)_ was more than happy to be able to live with his family, not knowing of the Shinigami's true intentions. Unknown to everyone a ghostly pale arm of " _Shinigami touches his eldest son for the briefest moment"_ just before Shinigami left for his realm.

That same day the Fourth made the announcement that the village was saved thanks to his wife and daughter, Kushina and Mio, since they were able to contain the chakra of the mighty beast. Minato told the whole village that his Family were heroes and should not be treated as some sort of reincarnated Kyūbi. The village was fast to accept that. They had complete trust in the words of their precious Fourth, and started calling Kushina and Mio the "Saviors of Konoha".

Now, 13 years after that tragedy, this day was not one full of sadness and grief, but one of joy and Celebration. After all not only there was there a huge festival in honor of the defeat of the Kyūbi, but it was also the birthday of one of the saviors of Konoha & her twin brother. Everywhere around the village people were celebrating, but the true party was at the Namikaze Uzumaki residence, where the young Mio and Naruto, now 13 years of age, were having their birthday party.

The house of the Namikaze Uzumaki clan was not as big as the other clan houses, but it was big enough to keep all the guests that showed up to the party. These guests were the heads of every important clan of the village along with the next heirs of said clans, and some important people to the family, such as Kakashi Hatake, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Jiraiya and Tsunade Senju of the Sannin.

The party was going at full blast and everyone was having a good time, but the ones that were most happy were of course Mio and Naruto. Mio Uzumaki Namikaze could only be described as a miniature version of Minato, she stood at 4ft 7in with golden blond hair which contains few strands of red hairs and are flowed back like waterfall to her shoulder, her light tan skin tone, pair of sparkling ocean blue eyes made her looks like a Californian girl but the most exotic feature are three fox like whisker marks on each of her cheeks, although her personality was more like that of her mother, Kushina Uzumaki. After all, it was hard for the girl to not pull a prank at someone when she could. In contrast to Mio her brother, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, is a bit different, he stood at 4ft 9in his hair color is dark crimson red with black streaks that are very hard to be seen, his face is without a blemish very clear with skin having light tan color tone siding on paler side but his most enthralling feature is his midnight blue eyes. Although his personality was more like Minato, calm, collected yet he is too famous in academy by dint of his cold and lonesome attitude.

When everyone have settled in the hall minato's fake coughing caught everyone's attention as he delivers his oration "Welcome everyone! I'm very glad to see all of you so energetic and excited for tonight's function! As usual, before we begin our festival to celebrate birthday of my children, let us honor those who lost their lives today with a moment of silence

Yes, if someone were to look at this scene they would think that they are the perfect family, but of course nothing is perfect. After all, nobody noticed that the birthday boy was nothing but a chakra reinforced **Shadow clone.**

* * *

 ** _Konohagakure no Sato, Uchiha clan compound_**

Naruto is approaching at **Nakano Shrine** to confirm his dreams which he has been having since the age of had been planning since last 3 years to do this and Kyūbi festival presents perfect opportunity for any covert mission in Konohagakure no Sato.

The **Nakano shrine** is a Shintō Shrine of Southern Joy and is a shrine in Konohagakure. In the main hall, beneath the seventh tatami mat from the far right, is a secret meeting place of the Uchiha clan. There stands a stone monument which contains the clan's secrets and can only be read with specific dōjutsu. The Rinnegan is able to completely decipher the contents of the monument, while the Sharingan and Mangekyō Sharingan are only able to partially decipher it. Recorded there are the secrets of the Mangekyō Sharingan, the story of the Sage of the Six Paths and the Ten-Tails. Also written on the tablet, is the story of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki and the Shinju. However, certain facts and details were forged by the Sage of the Six Paths. In order to access the main hall, a sequence of seals is required to remove the stone that lays atop the entrance way. The seal itself has the Sharingan in the middle and is encircled with seal formulas.

Redhead twin brother of Mio is currently watching the entrance of **Naka Shrine** of Uchiha clan from the shadows, on account of the Uchiha police force that is in charge of village's security. He stared them with his glowing red eyes. As soon as they left, he moved toward the door.

In order to access main hall, He did a sequence of seals which he had been seen several times in dreams, to remove the stone that lays atop the entrance way. As soon as he entered in the secret meeting place, he stared at a stone monument which contains all the answers he needed. _'Yes today is the day, I will be able to know the underlay of my visions, my prodigious aptitude for Jutsu theories also this scarce blood limit which has manifested 4 years ago.'_ He thinks with eagerness.

He can sense the chakra of The Sage of the Six Paths that is emitting from stone monument, although it is very faint yet he can recognize it anywhere in the world because of Indra's and Asura's combine memories and experiences.

He can remember it like yesterday, the first vision which has happened about 10 years ago when he awakened his chakra due to an accident. He shook his head to get on the task at hand.

 _'Let's see, aha! There you are.'_ as he spotted a seal that looks like a **Rinnegan** , at the upper left corner on the monument, the same thing he had seen in the visions.

'So that is the seal locked by The Sage of the Six Paths. Also according to my dreams it is a time chakra seal which can only be unlocked by properly drawing chakra at specific intervals.' He concludes while examining the seals. 15 after he had been satisfied from the results and summons one shadow clone to securely unlock the array meanwhile Original left for his house to attend his & Mio's birthday party.

Later that night when he reached his room for some much needed rest which is hindered as he saw his clone is fervently waiting for him to come then he saw all there scrolls are sealed so he looked to the clone and asked " aren't you supposed to be studying these scrolls?"

"Chief, these scrolls are locked by blood seals that can only be opened by either a very skilled seal master or the person whose blood is keyed into it." C.N (clone naruto is too long ….) reported on one knee position.

"Dispel" he is now glaring at these scrolls.

 _'What do you think shadow?'_ he said to his mental partner.

 ** _'When the time is right everything will fall into pieces. By then we will have to increase our training.'_** A feminine but cheery voice replied him in comforting manner.

 ** _-And cut._**

 **Chapter:** **Prologue**

* * *

 **Jutsu**

 **Shiki Fūjin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal): S-rank Fūinjutsu, Kinjutsu.**

 **Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique): A-rank Fūinjutsu, Teleportation technique.**

 **A/N: Phew….It is so exhausting to match the expectation of beta readers. They are like my uncle keep pestering you until you get everything perfect. This is the best prologue that has come on my mind after reading some of my previous chapters.**

 **Thanks to 'Tertiary' for her valuable advices.**

 **Do me a favor and please review it since every honest opinion is a good review in my book. Tune in to know the suspense also any suggestion for pairings or harems are much appreciated. Also be on the lookout for any new chapters for my current story and challenges I will be putting up later on, in the meantime, goodnight (or good day).**

 **Dadofmad007 signing out.**

 **P.S. This story will be a slight crossover.**


	2. Arc I: Commencement Part I

**Greetings, my fellow naruto fans this my improved version of "The Mortal Who Ascended" so please enjoy.**

"We are human" human talking

' _Yes author is Human but are you sure about readers Ku Ku Ku…'_ human thinking.

'Shadow are you looking at me when I'm in the shower' telepathic talking.

" **Not at all master."** **demons/denizen/summons/or any ethereal being talking.**

' _ **Soooo… hot he has become quite a catch'**_ **demons/denizen/summons/or any ethereal being thinking.**

' **Naruto-kun~ you left your sealing supplies' demons/denizen/summons/Ethereal being telepathically  
talking.**

 **[Author Notes].**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any anime but I do owe this Tale.**

* * *

 _ **Konohagakure no Sato, Random Main St., December 20,**_

A bright day of late winter is filling everyone with refreshing dose of warmth. Streets of Konohagakure are bustling with life as people are talking, buying or doing whatever they want with a bright smile on their faces. Children are playing their usual games or in case of a certain blond girl who is currently grinning as she skipped through streets so fast that it would make certain Green Beast proud and make him yell some profanities about 'Youth'. Her blond pigtails are trailing behind her, shining like blazing wild-fire. Some of her blond strand are matted down on her forehead that only magnified her glistening-beauty.

The reason of her running is a certain habit of over-sleeping that she got from her mother. The blond missile has known as Mio Uzumaki-Namikaze and she is excited because today is the day of Graduation from academy, In order to give an advance speech before she became first female 'Fire Shadow' which she has been preparing it since last week. Her attire consist of an orange sleeveless jacket inside it she wore a simple white shirt which is barely covering her budding B-cup breasts and orange short skirt under her skirt she wore a pair black stockings tha gives a funky look, inner layer of her clothes consist a standard mesh armour issued for every Kunoichi, to finalize it she wore a short woollen muffler around her neck.

While running she is daydreaming about only two things first is being a first female Hokage and second is, _' maybe he would notice me when I became the Hokage, yeah that would do the trick otherwise I can always snatch him at the first chance I get.'_ Her thought process is abruptly halted by Kakashi who is standing in front of academy. However her surprise lived short as she tackled Kakashi into the ground all the while hugging him like her teddy. Looking at the downed man she jumped off him and started to blabber about how sorry she is and all this which he waved off like nothing. Now gaining some sense of calmness she tried to inquire as to why he was at the academy.

Kakashi is a fit and relatively tall shinobi, with spiky silver hair and dark grey eyes. Since his first jōnin mission, he obtained a small vertical scar running over his left eye (which was soon replaced by a Sharingan). While unknown why, since early childhood, Kakashi has worn a mask over the nose and lower-half of his face. Right now Kakashi donned the standard jōnin attire: a Konoha flak jacket, dark blue pants and a long-sleeve shirt with the addition of wearing shorter, fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backhand, his forehead protector is worn over his left Sharingan eye in a similar manner to eye patch.

"Hey Kakashi-nii what are you doing here? Let me guess you are looking for sequel of your super cool orange book that made you a super awesome ninja?" she beckons her head as if to confirm her statement.

An innocent question which terrified Kakashi more than any of his enemies and all that happened when he 'accidentally' read his precious literature in Namikaze training field, during that time Mio was training in the backyard of house alongside her Mother. Let's just say that Kakashi learnt that day why Kushina is titled as 'Red-Death' and he barely left in one piece due to the emergency **Hiraishin** marker his sensei gave him. Although the threatening visage of Kushina's low chuckle with a yellow rubber duck, tar and chicken feathers still haunts him yet it is better to be scared than dead. So like any sane man Kakashi shook his head in denial as he replied "No Mio-chan, I've come to wish you and Naruto luck" _'moreover checking over your depressed mood'_ , "come to think of it where is he?" as he took a glance around Mio.

"He is gone from the house like hours ago even without telling or leaving a message to us, you know him Kakashi-nii he is Naruto and he likes to disappear at random times." Kakashi might not be the best person to talk about family matters since he practically raised himself but even he could feel it by her strained smile and body language that Mio is truly sad by Naruto's recent behaviour.

"Maa-ma, Mio-chan, you have to let him have his own time you know he is a little impervious, plus boys of his age are tend to show some maturity and his…" seeing her expression he turned his back in front of her and knelt, tilting his neck slightly he gestured her to get on his back, It is an odd habit that she picked up since her childhood. Whenever she feels down she would demand a ride from either Minato or Kakashi. _'Come to think of it she only gets sad whenever Naruto is not with her.'_

Lost in his thinking he almost missed it that Mio is walking towards academy and it is really a big shocker for him as Mio never and It means never in her life refused any chance for riding. _'Now this is turning into something serious whatever the thing that riled a cheerful girl Mio like this must be extremely straining and I can bet my whole Icha-Icha collection over, that it is somehow connected to her twin brother.'_

A brief snort escaped from his mouth as he mused on how Mio's and Naruto's whole personality are polar opposite from each other. _' This nor is the time neither an appropriate place to discuss anything about it from Mio as it would only make her more stressed, after her graduation is the best bet to make her spill about it. It will also provide her some much needed time to sort out her problem.'_ Confirming his strategy to support her surrogate _cute_ _little sister_ , he took one last glance at Mio and left to whatever he does. Which is mostly annoying the hell out of certain spandex wearing person *cough*Gai*cough or reading his precious treasures.

* * *

Academy classes are bustling with student's voices most of them are excited about graduation exams while some are getting nervous about it. Ignoring the random shouts Mio walked into her homeroom. As usual every student is present for their exams except her nii-Sama.

Exhaling a deep breath to ease her nerves she started to observe her teammates. Starting from middle row she saw the second most popular guy in the class Sasuke Uchiha and like any Uchiha he is damn arrogant yet the thing she despised about him most is his silver tongue when it comes to charm opposite sex he uses his Casanova plus Egoist attitude, to flirt with anything that possesses pussy and walks on two legs, since most of the girls are from civilian family they follow after him like a lost puppy. Besides all of his fault Sasuke Uchiha is still second best male student in. He wore a white simple lose fitting T-shirt that comes to his biceps, on the back of the T-shirt is Uchiha clan emblem that signifies his becoming a full-fledged Uchiha, to cover his other half he wore a pair of navy blue shorts over it he wore a utility belt for weapon pouch, finishing at black Ninja sandals on foot which is bandaged by white medical tapes precisely a typical Ninja attire, yet is hair odd hair style that looks like duck's ass from behind and bishonen figure earned him a very hilarious nick name of _'Duck haired Emo-Princess'_ from her nii-sama.

Regretting to start from ' _Duck haired Emo-princess'_ or as Naruto calls him, she couldn't help but snort as she reminded the first time her nii-sama called him by that name, Sasuke's face became so red like he is about to burst into the flames which is ironically very funny as Uchiha clan specializes in Fire based **Ninjutsu.**

She feigningly coughed into her hand which managed to compose her hearty laugh, it would be unbecoming of proper lady to laugh that loud and it would also gain her a very long scolding session from her mother. She manage to steer her head just in time to see Tōka's arrival in the class room as she elegantly walked into her seat in left row beside a window, she looked at the nicely growing body of her best friend since childhood and couldn't help but get slightly jealous of Tōka. Mio is popular girl her growing fan club is obviously proves it yet her body is more leaned on athletic build type rather than curvy. On the other side there are girls like Tōka Uchiha and Hinata Hyūga who are going to have figures that would make even goddesses green from jealousy, which somehow makes her a little insecure, Tōka looks majestic andher magnificent dark eyes belong to a very delicate face of girl around the same age as Mio. She has got her skin colour and hair colour from her mother. She is a well-mannered girl with a very short temper and is easy to rile up if you pick on her rather short height (4ft 3In, for her age which is not too short) and have a very large fetish for apples, she has dark black hair halfway through her back; that are on rather curly side with two thick lose strands framing her cute face and she looked just like a picture perfect. When she walks in her deep purple kimono top with Uchiha clan symbol knitted on her left side of chest which highlights her still growing C- cup jugs. Under the shirt she blinded those mounds using medical tapes, to restrict their shaking. Looking towards her neither religions you could say that she got a good rump on rear that is barely hidden by her black long skirt under it she a pair of purple leggings and finished her getup at long knee length boots. _'Wow! Tōka really justifies her title of 'Emotionless Princess' by her looks, she is like totally opposite of her elder sibling Shisui in that area.'_ As if on cue said girl looked at her friend while waving her hand. Waving in return settled at her usual spot beside Tōka.

 **[A/N Tōka is a character from anime Date a-live and I've just changed her attire to suit my story so it must be clear that I don't owe her.]**

Tōka is a polite girl but make no mistake she has a no nonsense attitude if you got in her way and right now there is a certain redhead individual who had been infuriating her. While walking toward academy she suddenly started to giggle, a giggle that is scaring the crap out of all the male populace who knows that smile very well after all it is glaringly obvious sadistic smile of a woman planning to torture some poor soul. Her musing is abruptly halted when she reached to her desk in the class and looked around to only to fix her gaze on certain orange clad blond girl so she waved her hand in greeting.

Both of the settled down in their respective spots while waiting for same person yet their motives are almost opposite from each-other. Mio is the first to break the silence "hey so anyone you like to have your teammate?"

"I'm fine to work with anyone beside redheads." Tōka's sarcastic tone spilled all the beans about her previous giggle, earning few chuckles from her blond friend. Deciding to annoy her Mio continued.

"Oh! Maybe it's good for you that my mom is at the house right now otherwise you would be in deep shit Tōka." That's it looking her friend Mio saw her pale white face and bust-out in fits of laughter. "Ha- ha very funny and I was talking about your tomato-head brother" is the snappy response she got from pouting Tōka as she is trying and failing to contain her laughing fits.

"The sound your laughing is like a very melodious Mio-chan and you are looking gorgeous too my beloved Tōka-chan." Said girls gazed at the source of voice and both of them became tad bit angry, okay in Mio's case she huffed and ignored it completely on the other hand her Burnett friend didn't give any outward reaction but her eyes gleamed with annoyance. As local playboy of the academy, Sasuke Uchiha tried and failed to gain any response from both beautiful girls for like hundredth time.

Arrival of their homeroom instructor halted any further interaction among students. Although Sasuke looked very composed yet inwardly he was fuming by the lack of response he got from both hot girls. _' I will get them by any means after all I'm son of Uchiha clan head'_ closing his fist and walked to his seat beside his friend Kiba Inuzuka, upcoming heir to the famous Inuzuka 's attire consisted of dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur‒lined coat, with the hood usually placed on his head, over an apparent plate of armor and fishnet undershirt, with blue sandals.

"Good morning class "greeted their First instructor Iruka Umino as he looked around in classroom and sweat dropped which increased moreover as his fellow Instructor's greeting is also ignored by almost everyone.

Iruka Umino is a Chūnin of Konohagakure no Sato as he appeared to be in his early thirties his facial features are slightly above average with light tan skin also a scar running over his nose, his eyes are black brown unlike his hairs which are braided in a spiked ponytail. In other word he is an average guy as average as ninja could be who likes to teach in academy moreover he is very patience person but even his temper has some limits and his class just crossed it _'even on their last day in academy and they still have gall to Ignore their us."_ Tick marks mysteriously appeared all over his forehead as he used **Head Expansion Jutsu** to make them shut their traps.

Mizuki is also very pleased to see the effect of Iruka's sudden outburst even though he didn't give two shits about teaching but damn these brats are noisy as hell. Mizuki is an average run of the mill Chūnin, the only stark difference he have from his comrades is his shiny silver hairs and beady grey eyes. After gaining attention of every person in the room Mizuki feign coughed into his hands and started to take attendance meanwhile Iruka looked over seats to double check it.

Meanwhile Mio is looking haphazardly towards his brother's cite due to the absence of said person. "Namikaze Mio" hastily turning towards Iruka she gave her regular "Hai sensei" and braced for her scolding she would gain but to her relief Iruka was distracted by the arrival of an ANBU operative so she was lucked out. Now that she thinks about it what is an ANBU operative doing here and the fact that it is _CAT_ also ticked her as she is the operative assigned for Naruto's security but before she could have asked anything from either of them, resounding poof at the door beaten her to the punch also alerting everyone of a newcomer.

Looking towards sound they saw the only absent person in their class is standing there with his ever-present emotionless face, his sharp dark blue eyes are focused on _CAT_ "what are you doing here _Neko-san?_ " Now identified Neko aka Yūgao is a young woman with straight, purple hair reaching down to her waist, warm brown eyes, and a shade of red lipstick but now as an ANBU member, Yūgao is wearing a Porcelain mask resembling a cat with three red stripes — one vertical stripe on the forehead and two horizontal stripes, one on each cheek. She is also wearing the standard ANBU uniform, consisting of black and grey armour, metal arm guards and a katana strapped to her back to finalize it she has the signature ANBU tattoo on her right Shoulder.

"Namikaze-san, pardon me to intrude over your private matters yet as a ANBU operative assigned to guard over you I am obliged ask you where were you since last night?" though her tone is mostly professional Naruto's sharp senses still picked up on her subtle twitch on her strong arm's fingers, a sign of annoyance and guilt. _'Guilt, now this is turning out to be an interesting combo, annoyance could be described as I've slipped from her since last twelve hours and she is blaming herself for that. This ought to be her source of guilt.'_ Collecting his estrange thoughts he beckons her to come close. Standing at his arm's length she suddenly gave an inaudible 'eep' when a **Shadow Clone** appears at her side. Naruto gestured her to follow him.

Turning around she gave him some parting words "please refrain from wandering around alone however from my experience asking you this would be too much thenceforth please leave a message which would ease our discomposure about you " though her tone is mostly stoic Naruto still detected her sincerity .

Now the figure identified as Naruto got everyone's attention from class his attire is black sleeveless sweat shirt made from Kevlar and a ceramic guard attached to his left sleeves his right sleeve is bandaged from his palm till elbow joints over his shirt he wore a simple blue jacket. Getting at waist we could see a black utility belt with on its backside two equipment pouches and a storage scroll at the left on the belt which is also acting as support belt for his grey trousers. Every lose piece of clothing is covered by bandages, on feet norm issued ANBU boots are equipped.

His face is glistening due to having some sweat and red strands of his hair are giving a hue of sunrise, due to his slight perspiration. A sight that left many lesser girls in a drooling mess and boys are glaring him jealously. Mio is half-tempted to abandon everything and take him right there right now but somehow she restrained herself. Looking around to check the water a decision that Naruto certainly regretted as what he saw was that almost all of the female populace are eying him like a piece of meat (except Yūgao as her mask is restricting his view) and the most terrifying of them is Hyūga heiress _'she is practically raping me by dint of those creepy eyes. Oh! Screw it, at any rate she is doing it my face unlike Tōka who does it subtly, to top it off she even denies it. Typical troublesome Tsundere woman.'_ He was broken out of his fear induced coma by Neko's fake coughing,

"Please pardon me as I've made you worry about me though you know my capabilities, so please do not fret about my well-being so much." His voice softened if only slightly to ease the nerves of still anxious woman, which did the trick thoroughly as she nodded her head and disappeared in a smokeless **Sunshine**. Seeing as everyone is looking at him, some of them are barely restraining themselves from chewing him about it and answering them would be irksome thus he ignored each of them while abusing **Sunshine no Jutsu** to get to his seating spot, Iruka inwardly laughed at it as he had worked with Naruto's father at Hokage's office, who also abused **Hiraishin** to do any diminutive tasks _'must be a Namikaze thing'_ he thought while shaking his head and reconfirmed that everyone is present for Graduation Exams. He distributed question papers for the written part of exam while Mizuki instructed them about rules and regulations.

Mio gave an eyeful to his brother which gave him an inkling of message that says 'you will explain me everything in lunch break otherwise there might be consequences.' Dismissing it as her sisterly fit of protectiveness over her brother he took a quick glance at question paper. Releasing a frustrated sigh over the pathetic questions while writing his answers he finished his exam in less than five minutes. He stealthily took a glance around him to see if anyone is watching him and after a while when the last onlooker averted their eyes he did a quick execution of required hand seals and performed a smokeless **Sunshine** while substituting himself with a **Shadow Clone**.

Appearing at the top of the neighbourhood Oak tree he exhales a deep breath while giving a pointed look toward the academy rooftop" come out Mio I am aware of your tailing me", an instant later a resounding poof on opposite branch greeted him a visage of a very pissed-off Mio as she was really got scared when Neko-san declared that he had skipped from her watch. Hence in her nervous state she blurted out "what the hell Nii-chan! Are you really that disinterested in becoming a ninja? No maybe you are one of those with superiority complex who likes to think that they knows all the stuff?"

' _Like a clockwork the first thing she did is ranting about my disappearance well people do say apple doesn't fall too far from the tree'_ his musing is interrupted by a loud thump beside where he cited on the branch, looking upwards he saw that Mio's lips are quivering and her eyes are getting teary. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he exhaled it through nostrils and replied "you are not a child Mio so please rein your emotions and to your satisfaction I'm having a quick training session therefore in-between it; I lost my track of time." To skip of her emotional tantrum he stood up and walked past her but before he got too far Mio grabbed his left wrist "you know each time you pull it off, I can't help but get worried for you." Turning around she looked at his feet "I just wanted to tell you that you are very precious to me nii-sama so please *sob, hiccup*, please be careful." Her words are died in her throats as she poured her heart out.

Turning around Naruto put a single finger under her chin and make her to look at him. His dark blue marbles are gazing into her azure pools of emotions when she looked at him. He found hating himself while her sparkling orbs are judging his soul for her answers. The intensity of her loving gaze is so overwhelming that even his stomach churned for a second yet he repressed his self-loathing that would haunt him later _'I love you Mio and that is why I must lie to her until we get enough power to stop any of the threats, because if she got the wind of my position no-not mine moreover her position in this rotten village then it shall only cause her unbearable pain.'_ Steeling his resolve he bored his gaze straight into her teary orbs "Mio Namikaze" his commanding voice got her full attention, he softly smiled at her " You are The daughter of Fourth Hokage and Red-Death, sister of mine yet your heart is too fragile, like a piece of snowflake and that is the reason I am training this much." She tilted her head at side in confusion which made her immoderately cute, had Naruto be any lesser man he would be embracing her shouting "KAWAI". Sensing her confusion Naruto elaborated "Even though Minato and Kushina are revered as heroes in most of the villages, they are still notoriously known in other countries. Think this way Mio 'when you aren't capable of harming your enemy what will you do?'" her face went through carnival of emotions and settled at horror as she realized his meaning, to confirm it he nodded and continued "Maybe I am being paranoid but it is a possibility that they will come after us, to extract their vendetta. To prevent it I am training myself to the bone because believe me Mio Kami forbid if it comes to this then I want to be as prepared as we can to face anything that comes to us." Bending down slightly he planted a soft kiss on her forehead while wiping off some stray tears from her face and left to sushi point in **Sunshine.**

Numbness right now Mio is feeling too much joy to feel anything but numb, the only feeling she is feeling right now was the feeling of butterflies flying inside her stomach as her face gained an atomic blush, her heart is beating so fast that it could beat her father's title of fastest man of earth. In-between her pleasure induced coma she missed the ringing of the lunch bell only dispelling of her **Shadow Clone** saved her from Iruka's lecture as he saw her from the window. Shaking her head to control her blush she jumped down and jogged jovially towards her friends.

On the side-lines Kiba Inuzuka saw the whole scenario between Naruto and Mio and seethed in anger as he got the faint whiffs of sexual arousal Mio is releasing when Naruto kissed her _'that bastard ! He even got his sister in the bag.'_ He clenched his fists so tight that his knuckles are turned white. Unknown to Kiba his best friend Sasuke is thinking along the same lines.

Meanwhile on the far side of the roof over academy a certain Jōnin also watched the interaction between Namikaze siblings while calibrating best Genin combinations for her first Genin squad, _'they are certainly too close even for twins, but from their behaviour I can tell that Naruto is oblivious about Mio's feelings.'_ Her gaze scrutinised at Mio as she talked to her friends. _'For a girl who is informed by his brother that they could die on their first mission out of the village she is certainly cheery, maybe she is bi-polar like Lady Kushina.'_ Taking a last glance at a certain Hyūga heiress she left to the sushi point to examine the last person on her list.

* * *

 _ **Konohagakure no Sato, random street, Sushi bar,**_

The bustling atmosphere of shop is starkly different from academy, outside of the shop is as plain as it could be in other words a normal fast-food joint, but on the inside it is one of those places in Konoha that is freely used for underhand/illegal dealings. On the far left corner of the shop is counter table of it where the owner sits and operates his bot business. Shopkeeper is a retired ANBU ninja who dropped out of shinobi system when his wife is killed during third great ninja war, his face is living prove that he fought foot to nails for his home as it sports many scars yet the most prominent one would be the scar that went from his upper left temple to the right cheek. A nasty badge of honour to remind him when he killed the former captain of the Iwa's bombing squad near Grass country battlefield. He is still feared throughout Iwa for his long range water and wind techniques which labelled him as _Storm Bringer_ his very close to his real name Arashi Edogawa.

Arashi is a tall man towering well over 6ft with heavily tanned skin, a sign of his heavy exposure to sun. He is a muscular man with a heavy build-up yet he is a nice person to the core. He has shaggy black hairs alongside some greys' in here and there, time is never got easy on him as he looked around sixties while actually being in his fifties and only his earlier training and fitness is keeping him from getting bulky. Currently he is garbed in a blue sleeveless apron upon his simple rusty brown V-neck t-shirt, getting on his bottom side he had put on a pair of beige green jeans and matching sneakers. His both arms are showing signs of scorch marks, his most painful scars because they reminds him every day of his diseased wife. A person that he loved more than himself. Thence when Kiyomi died in front of him, it sent him and his Daughter in a pit of depression, only coming out when Kyūbi incident happened as eye opener to him. With a major shock and a new fear raised from it, a fear for his daughter kunou's (3) safety, after all she is his only living relative/family that belongs to him. Which motivated him to settle down aside from Shinobi life and resulted in a sushi corner.

On the farthest corner back at the shop is where Naruto is currently having Saba zushi with some apple juice. Taking a healthy bite of his guilty pleasure Naruto almost eased his senses. Suddenly he felt a faint flicker of chakra at his sensing range. Concentrating some more on the signature he felt the freshness of roses and only one person have that type of feeling in his or in this case her chakra, ' _Genjutsu Mistress_ _Kurenai Yūhi, is she really tailing me or is it just so happens to be her favorite shop too. Meh who cares, unless she would come between me and my sushi-chan, she may do whatever she wants.'_

Lost in his little lala land of sushi Naruto almost missed when said person sat down just opposite to his seat, well to anyone she would be a teenage boy with black hair and light tan complexion with blue button up shirt and cream leggings. Nothing out of ordinary _'so she is here to gauge my limits,'_ Naruto almost smirked at her pathetic choice of technique not that any other technique would make any difference in his particular case. From as long as Naruto could remember he has never trapped in any type of **Genjutsu** from the day he awakened his chakra. His chakra is so much tuned to his body that he can restrict and disrupt its flow partially. Partial disruption of chakra is a skill that only a _Senjutsu master_ or _perfect jinchūriki_ could ever hope to achieve, well aside from him but she doesn't need to know about it heck Naruto haven't told a soul about it aside from shadow, well if every soul is counted.

Meanwhile Kurenai is keeping a steady hold of her illusion around her and Naruto, while checking his chakra for any signs of disruptions or fluctuations that normally occurs when a person tries to break a **Genjutsu**. Her eyes widened in astonishment when she felt his chakra which is flowing nearly resolute into his chakra system and sole fluctionaio is sensed in his larynx, _' such fineness in chakra control and he is only Genin no he is still studying to be a Genin.'_ She is now sourly realizing that Naruto is just toying with her and she is making fool of herself by keeping her **Genjutsu** , so with a simple movement of her left index finger she broke it down.

Lack of invading chakra gave him green signal to voice his thoughts "good-afternoon to you too Yūhi-san, having enough entertainment or you want to test some more about my capabilities as I've only quarter an hour before my presence is essential at academy." He looked her while taking a tentative sip from his juice and for a moment he thought that he saw a goddess on earth.

Kurenai is a fair-skinned woman of slender build. She has long black untamed hair reaching her upper back, and very unique eyes that are red in colour, with an additional ring in them which make her all the more exotic. She wears make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. Her regular outfit consists of a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Overall, this is very broad material which resembles bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns yet all of that could not help to deter her D-cup jugs and bubbly booty. Her hands and upper thighs are also wrapped in bandages and she wears the Konoha forehead protector and regular shinobi sandals. All in all she looks deadly yet sexy 'a perfect example of Kunoichi.'

Having red handed caught by a contender of Genin would indeed embarrass any average Jōnin yet she is in no way an ordinary Jōnin. Thus she felt a wave of proud wash over her when she listened to his voice, a voice that doesn't held any ounce of proud or arrogance over the fact that he be-fooled a Jōnin level ninja. _' No his voice is only oozing with tranquility, bordering at tediousness …. What are you perusing Namikaze-san?'_ getting up from her seat Kurenai locked her gaze with him and found another thing that all teenage male lacks, his eyes held no lust over her body it is a serious dent to her pride over her beauty. Narrowing her beautiful crimson eyes she uttered her only sentence before leaving the place in a **Leaf Sunshine**.

"You intrigue me Namikaze-san." Quirking of an eyebrow is the only reaction she got before she left.

"Congratulations! Tomato-kun you managed to make even Ice-Queen stalk you till all the way here and top it off she also gave you a subtle hint of appoval." Chimed in a boisterous voice that belonged to a teenager around his late teens his hair is shaggy black with some strands spiking here and there his attire consist of standard Konoha Jōnin uniform and only a short Tanto which is strapped on his back is making it unique. His eyes are coal black like a certain girl in her class which reminded Naruto his cause of him being here in the first place. Naruto's eyes slightly widens as he felt a scroll slipped into his Utility pouch.

"Thank you Shisui and I really prefer Ice-Queen over your taste for _Ice-Prince"_ the subtle jab Naruto put over his lack of relationship or closeness of his and Itachi's friendship was easily brushed off by Shisui. As he walked over to the chair where Kurenai sat moments ago.

"So little Tomato-kun prefers _experienced_ girls over _blooming flowers_?" his grin only widened as he saw the faint twitching of Naruto's eyebrows. Schooling his features Naruto smiled a gentle yet foreboding smile toward Shisui while swallowing final bite of his food.

"Maybe, maybe not yet I've all the options and you don't so suck it up. _Perverted camera_ " this remark is finally scored a blow as Shisui can be seen at the corner of the shop muttering 'not fair' with 'smartass prodigy pimps taking all the girls attention' while a raincloud is mysteriously raining over him. A sweat-drop is formed at everyone's back of the heads as they saw him. Gulping down all the juice in one go Naruto left some money on the table as he headed towards exit. Like a clockwork Shisui jumped between him and doorframe all the while pointing an accusing finger at him.

"What the hell! Naruto we haven't finished our discussion yet." He saw Naruto picking his ears with his pinky while he was speaking, slumping down in defeat he walked beside him to the exit. Arriving at alleyway he finally spoke in a demure voice.

"The group that you wanted me to sniff-around is really a ' _nice'_ group Naruto, they are like shadows hardly leaving any attestation of their existence and therewithal each of them are perilous, vultures and non-ductile. Most of them can kill me easily at any time or way they please, in other words these are the peoples Naruto that can evenly fight with our Hokage-sama. So in my opinion Naruto please we are nothing compared to them, they are the top predators in the food chain and they will eat you without having any second-"their conversation is halted by Naruto as he sensed a faint chakra that smells like carnivorous plants and malicious intent coming from the wall on the sidewalks turning around he looked at the wall as he gave him his words before bidding.

"Sometimes it is not enough to do our best Shisui; we must do what is required. Heed my warning that these times of peace are only standing on the foundation made by glass; mere one shot away from breaking apart in million pieces. We are living at borrowed time because our respective Leaders lacks the will to do something right for the sake of current generation hence they allows ourselves to be swallowed by the _shadows of fear_ which we created by our past deeds or sometime lack of deeds. Do yourself a favor Shisui by not indulging yourself into my business, Oh! Almost forgot about, Shisui does anyone on their group possesses the **Wood Release** kekkei genkai?" his answer came in a negative shake of head.

"Why, do you happen to know someone capable of using wood release?" Naruto's question really distressing him due to **Wood Release** is known as the most powerful kekkei genkai that could eradicate armies at one go if it is misused. **Wood Release** kekkei genkai has a critical part why Shodai Hokage got his moniker of _Shinobi no Kami_ and was only rivalled by Madara Uchiha.

"Nothing just getting curious and Shisui please don't utter a single word about it to anyone especially to my _dear_ Father." Naruto left him in a dilemma as each and every words are still echoing inside his brain and his last question isn't helping him to ease his nerves. Shaking his head to bury his thoughts about previous conversation as he too left to attend his duties at Hokage tower. In his haste he missed a shadow with lone yellow eye seeping inside the wall.

* * *

 _ **Konohagakure No Sato, Ninja Academy Training Field,**_

Barely making at the correct time Naruto is making his way to his sitting arrangement but sudden arrival of an obstacle obscured his vision. Looking down he saw the second most irritating person in the academy Tōka Uchiha glaring at him, _'Great first big brother(Shisui) a loon to the bone and now little sister even bigger bother than her aniki.'_ For second time in the day Naruto felt his composure faltering, deciding to cut the chase he addressed her "what do you want _Uchiha_?" his usually calm voice now held a certain edge, a sign that he is not goofing around.

Tōka was waiting to confront him about her previous defeat in spar thanks to him yet right now she is feeling rather uneasy in front of his midnight blue marbles. Her lack of response earned her a lesser than polite welcome from elder Namikaze sibling, stealing her nerves she audibly gulped some split inside her mouth to address him properly" Namikaze-san I'm here to declare that I will surpass you in every shinobi field in two months after our graduation." A certain haughty pose and a little nods of her head did nothing to disrupt her typical Tsundere status.

'Shadow is this for real?' for once Naruto is doubting his senses because of Tōka's sudden and utterly foolish declaration of a challenge.

' **Yes Naruto she has finally surpassed her elder brother in absurdity.'** It is the reply he got in her strange yet solemn voice.

' _Something tells me that she would become a bigger pest than Shisui.'_ Looking at Tōka's innocent visage, he couldn't help but let a challenging grin escape "Good luck Uchiha-san and please do try your hardest meanwhile I would prefer to head towards my seats." Blushing slightly at her rashness she slipped out of his way as he walked pass her.

Looking back at class Tōka sweat-drooped at the scene, which is each and every female pair of eyes; bar her are boring holes in her skull. _'Ok so challenging Naruto before his rabid fangirls is actually bad move.'_ She weaseled out her way to her seat and sat down beside younger Namikaze with a sigh of relief.

Soon the field test started much to everyone's joy as first test is test of Marksmanship and as expected the first person on roll call is Aburame Shino heir of Aburame clan.

Shino is a fair skinned ninja and the tallest member of his graduating class. He has dark, bushy, brown hair. Shino is regularly seen sporting the same style as the rest of his clan, consisting of dark sunglasses and a sea green jacket with a high, upturned collar.

Like a true Aburame, Shino's skill in projectile weapons like Kunai and shuriken are just above average and got average passing aims 14 out of 20.

Next is a civilian girl Amano Rikū has been called as like everyone she was given the required weapon as she took one last glance towards Naruto and then chucked handful of projectiles at targets or at least she tried to. Bering 3 out of ten Kunai are lodged into the opposite direction of the targets and she was immediately disqualified.

Naruto went of tangent as he took a peak at the scroll that Shisui has discreetly slipped in his weapons pouch while he has been pulling wool around everyone's eyes. Looking up at the contestants he sweat-dropped as Iruka informed everyone that Chōji missed his chance because he was too immersed in eating his lunch to listen his name and will perform at the end, he looked at the said student and mentally shook his head at the polite teen's appearance, 'these kids are to innocent to face the cruel realities of Ninja world.'

Chōji has spiky, brown hair, swirl marks on his cheeks, and like the rest of his clan, he has a more robust physique. Since his childhood, he has always been quite husky, which is a necessity in his clan to perform their techniques since they convert calories to chakra. Chōji wore black shorts, a long white scarf, a short‒sleeved, green haori, over a white shirt with his clan's obligatory kanji for "food" (食, _shoku_ ) on its, small, hoop earrings, and his legs and forearms were wrapped in bandages. A typical clothing for their sixteenth clan head in the making. Suddenly an annoyed shout of a purple clad girl diverted Redhead's attention towards her as he took in her looks, she is Yamanaka Heiress Ino Yamanaka.

She wore a short purple vest like blouse with a raised collar, a purple apron skirt that is cut off on the sides and bandages on her stomach and legs. She also wore purple and white elbow warmers with this she wore a pair of small hoop-earring. Her attire perfectly shows her curvy figure which consists High B-cup bordering low C-cup breasts and quite the bountiful rump behind her. By her shouting he can perfectly gauge her personality her voice describes her possessiveness while her facial feature shows her commanding nature as she reprimanded poor Chōji for skipping an important event as graduation test for the simplest things like food.

"Ino don't shout here troublesome woman." Grumbled a drowsy voice which belongs to the final part of legendary Ino–Shika–Chō trio, said person is Nara Shikamaru current heir of Nara clan. A clan of famous for its abnormally high IQ which is only surpassed by their equally slumberous attitude to the exclusion of life threatening situation. He has shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail and narrow brown eyes. His attire was rather plain, consisting of a green lined mesh T‒shirt under a short sleeved grey jacket with green edges, adorned on both the sleeves and the back with a circle with a line through it, brown calf length pants, and blue sandals.

"What was that Shika?" the sudden edge in Ino's voice is ticking everyone's danger sense of doom. Assuming that it is not worth to risk his life Shikamaru mumbled a soft 'nothing' and escaped the hell out of there.

Naruto noticed that he has more than enough time to kill thus he quietly sat down in the shade of a random tree and used third seal on his left forearm with the Kanji for 'Mirror', to create an A-rank **Genjutsu** that makes him transparent so long he doesn't move too much.

* * *

 _ **Mindscape,**_

Closing his eyes he drifted into a light slumber while secretly creating a **Shadow Clone** to perform in his turn. From outside he looks like sleeping but inside his head he is looking over a field of flowers of all kinds, trees with delicious fruits and a stream of crystal clear water that come from a beautiful waterfall. Looking around some more he saw the silhouette of the female he is looking for. Time and time again naruto saw his mindscape yet it always mesmerized him that such beautiful place is manifestation of his tainted and selfish heart.

Taking a furtive glance toward Shadow he realized that she is still looking at waterfall. _' She must be fussing over the past interaction I had with Shisui.'_ Feigning a cough to be noticed by her. He sat down in beside her in the shade of blooming Sakura trees. A serene silence settled between them, only the sounds of some stray winds carrying flower petals of saying trees and constant sound of waterfall is telling them that it is not a portrait but reality. Shattering the serenity Shadow slowly set her eyes on him. "What do I owe to gain your presence Danna-sama?" her voice is full of devotion with a lingering touch of affection.

"Maybe to punish you Shadow as you are not correcting your way of addressing me. As I have informed you time and time again that please treat me as your partner or equal." A stoic reply she got from her Master who is keeping a straight face though his eyes are dancing with mirth with the way Shadow is apologizing.

Cutting the cackle he stared at her charge "Shadow what got you so worked up that you are acting like a jim-jams." She looked him tentatively and anxiously while her face is still concealed in the darkness.

"Danna- …..Naruto-kun I don't want to speak out of my line but what will you do about the group that 'masked-man' and now Shisui are talking about?" hesitating at the beginning, she blurted out all of her exertion in one sentence.

"Despite answering you I would like to ask this, what would you do in my shoes Shadow?, here I am a 13 year old teenager my _father, mother_ and _jinchūriki sister_ are living legends of sacrifices to maintain this brittle balance of peace in this abhorrent Shinobi system. A system which is founded by lies, nurtured by sacrificing innocent souls like Mio Namikaze, Obito Uchiha, Rin Nohara, Kushina Uzumaki and countdown still goes on. Casting a curtain of glory over the eyes of their own children while sending more than half of them to doom. What kind of peace are we gutting in there?"

To his utter surprise shadow is still looking at her feet making no move to answer him , sighing he took a deep breath while continuing his talk "It will end here Shadow, My generation will be the last nail in the coffin of Shinobi World and I will personally make sure that it happens." Exhaling a deep breath through his nostrils to calm himself down. He locked his eyes with her, midnight blue orbs of determination are now containing a tempest of annihilation and blood bath. For the first time since her birth Shadow felt her first emotion of apprehension. An emotion so unacquainted to her that she almost missed it yet she felt the predominance behind it and a fear for her own wellbeing surfaced in her. A fear which have no base, neither is spiritual nor in physical realm as she is also sacred much like the emotion that is lingering in her ample bosom.

If anyone had asked her at this moment, what would be world's most dangerous pair of eyes? She will direct him/her to Naruto nor the **Sharingan** neither the **Rinnegan**. Each of his beautiful orbs are currently blazing with the passion, devotion and desire. These are the eyes of a prepossessed person, a person who is willing to sacrifice anything, a person who is undaunted by the fear of losing his glory, severing his bonds, and lastly sacrificing himself. These are the eyes that strikes fear in even God's heart because you cannot divert them, you cannot tempt them, and you cannot compel them. You can do only one thing and that is hope, hope that they are not after you.

' _So, these eyes are Badge of Campione, a person whose beliefs so powerful that the beliefs alone could slay any God.'_

She was cut short in her thoughts as he addressed her "Shadow you and I both are aware of that I have seen the whole life of them, the Two Titans of History namely Indra and Ashura Ōtsutsuki. There must be another reason besides your snatching their souls from Shinigami* that I've got their memories and partial powers. So please tell me your will Shadow." As he finally looked her with unwavering resolution.

"Naruto-kun I don't answer or more specifically I might not be able to answer you as I don't any of these relations. I am a being who lived her whole life in solitude. I have neither love nor fear, so my opinion is as useful as a blind guess in this situation. There is only one thing I cared about is maintaining my existence." She looked downwards at the stream as Naruto turned around to leave but suddenly he is embraced by a pair of delicate arms that belongs to shadow as she continued "yet I've only lived 13 years with you, but I don't want to change any of them. They're all part of my life, even the failures. So heed my word Naruto-kun that I will be with you in your every decision and the only thing I care about is _our continuous existence_. Neither the world piece nor people of this world are of significant to me."

Too shocked by the allurement shown by Shadow he merely nodded his head, while his mental body begins to fade into numberless particles of silver that dispersed from her hold like water slipping from her grasp, a sign that he has awoken in real world.

* * *

 _ **Real world,**_

The first thing he noticed after opening his eyes that the beautiful afternoon is melded into an equally beautiful mandarin evening. Looking around he saw that his 'CNaruto' is currently divulging himself in a brief conversation with Shino, his conversation ended just as quietly as it began. His suspicion of missing the third test completely is proven correct by his eavesdropping a conversation between some random civilian girls mostly consisting of 'how chivalrously his clone defeated Sasuke in one blow' and some more Incoherent things which is utter bullshit in his opinion.

'What should I do?' To his surprise he got an answer from his gut as his stomach groaned in hunger. Taking a cursory glance at academy playground, he turned around and begins to trek his way to his Home. The sound of perverted giggle at the entrance of the academy and several blushing faces of girls around his age reminded him why he learnt **Sunshine no Jutsu.**

Quickly getting a bite at some random bar he left the place. Once more he looked upside only to see the stars have almost blanketed the sky and the dusk was roughly turned into night. Doing a once over, he left the place utilising standard Konoha **Sunshine** and this time he chooses his room to appear. Appearing right beside his bed he putted his dirty pair of clothes in laundry basket and changed into a brown sleeveless t-shirt and matching pair of shorts. He dropped on his bed like a sack of potatoes. Laying down he reviews all the events happened today. His reminiscing is abruptly interrupted as 'CNaruto' appeared beside him and dispelled itself.

Sorting out **Shadow Clone's** memory he leaned some very interesting facts for once Mio came second in girls academy ranking while her best friend Tōka came first beating her in **Taijutsu** scores.' _Well Mio was paired with Hyūga girl, despite that she won her match. On the other hand Tōka got a free ticket as she was fighting against a civilian._ ' Sorting out some more he snickered at the memory at Shikamaru's lazily attitude as he surrendered after getting the minimum marks to pass the physical test and same happened in test spars. There is nothing out of ordinary happened besides a new student attended the graduation test, _'what was her name Yakami, Yakimo no, maybe Yaku – something? Ahm… forget it there is nothing exceptional about her except her prodigious potential in_ _ **Genjutsu.**_ _'_

A knock on his room's door interrupted his short trip of memories. Groaning slightly at the disturbance, he got up from his laying position, stretched some kinks out from his stiff muscles all the while taking few steps to reach the doorknob. Slowly tuning the doorknob he slightly opened his door to see the source of annoyance.

 _ **Hokage's House, some moments ago,**_

"We are home mom." A loud and care free voice of Mio announced their arrival. As both brother-sister duo putting of their sandals.

"Look who has got here, my little Princess and her Knight. Welcome home dear" replied their mother all the while kissing both of them on their forehead. Kushina still remembers the day when she first and only time called her son as a Prince and he argued her to the end, so she finally settled over a nickname that both of them liked the Knight. She couldn't help but remember the days when both of her little kids have been playing ninja and now both of them have their forehead protectors, a sign that they are legal shinobi under the judicial of Konoha. _'Oh gosh! These past thirteen years are the best time of my life, may Kami-sama grace us with some more happy life.'_

"Mother, it would be much appreciated if you let go of me because these clothes are stinking." The voice of CNaruto shook her out of her lala land as she let them go.

"Nii-sama please hurry otherwise dinner will get cold." Giving an affirmative nod of his head he headed to his room.

"Mom" Mio's weak and vulnerable voice a voice that couldn't belong to her, more like it should not belong to anyone of her age. Looking up Mio saw that her mother's concerning gaze is now fixed on her she continued "is it only I or nii-sama is really distancing himself from everyone. He is really becoming reticent these days, never talking unless necessary or some formal greetings here and there. Heck even that emo-jerk sasuke speaks more than Naruto-nii.' Mio's pleading gaze completely shattered all of her resolve to restrain emotions as she clutched Mio in a motherly hug and Mio too is not able to contain herself as the dam of anguish and sadness finally broke out from her eyes.

When Mio finally calmed down; she looked up to his brother's room and started to trek her way towards him to clutch him in her embrace, to make him feel wanted, to make him feel her affection and finally tell him about her feelings.

[A/N Mio is a huge bro-con don't like incest then please don't read any upcoming chapters because it will be a bro-sis incest paring fic or harem fic that includes Mio.]

 _ **Naruto's room, present time,**_

"Hello, earth to Mio are you even listening to me?" looking up she saw that her nii-sama's face is just centimetres away from her face and like a castle made by sand all of her brain is shut down from shear pressure and she fainted in front of him as he grabbed her unconscious body at the last second.

Looking at her face, while checking her nerves. He carried her downstairs in a bridal carry all the while muttering about 'contagious Hyūga disease and keeping Mio away from Hinata.' Turning towards kitchen he described the following events also describing the cause of her fainting. During his reporting Kushina is having a very hard time to keep her face straight. All of these events reminded her of how much of dummy minato was and Naruto is also dense in _that_ regards, _'like people says the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree'._ Feigning a cough she regained her composure as she assured him that Mio was alright and he can sleep if he want to.

Staring down from his room entrance he took one last glance at Mio and closed it. Making two **Shadow clones** to work on his **Fūinjutsu** he laid down on his comfortable bed. All the while thinking about team placements that would happen tomorrow.

 _ **-And cut.**_

 **Arc 1: Commencement**

 **Chapter 1: Acquaintance**

* * *

 **Jutsu**

 **Genjutsu: Mirror Mirage:** Mirror mirage is an A-rank area altering Genjutsu that is used to cloaks the presence of the user from enemies, the requirement for this technique are very good chakra control and chūnin level chakra reserves to successfully casting because it requires expelling of chakra from over 80% of Tenketsu residing in Human body.

 **Sunshine No Jutsu:** A high speed travelling C-rank technique which is commonly used by anyone above Genin ranked.

 **Character Status**

 _ **Name: Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze**_

 _Age: 13_

 _Sex: Male_

 _Height: 4ft 9in_

 _Genjutsu: B-rank, can perform high level illusions due to having a part of Indra's chakra._

 _Ninjutsu: A-rank, can perform high level non elemental Jutsu._

 _Taijutsu: High C- rank, will upgrade in due time as his physical strength is not developed yet._

 _Fūinjutsu: Level 7 High A-rank bordering at S-rank._

 _Speed: High Chūnin bordering to Jōnin (if chakra is applied)._

 _Stamina: ANBU level._

 _Chakra Reserves: High Jōnin level._

 _Chakra Control: High ANBU level._

 _Chakra Affinity: Lightning, Water and wind._

 _Secondary Energy: unspecified._

 _Blood Limit: unspecified._

 _Dojutsu: unspecified._

 _Official Rank: Academy student/ below Genin._

 _Actual Rank: High Chūnin. (Leaving Fūinjutsu)_

 _Favourite Jutsu: Shadow clone Jutsu_

 _Relatives: Minato Namikaze-Father, Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze-Mother, Mio Uzumaki Namikaze-sister._

 _ **Name: Mio Uzumaki-Namikaze**_

 _Age: 13._

 _Sex: Female_

 _Height: 4ft 7in._

 _Genjutsu: Non-existent._

 _Ninjutsu: B-rank can perform high rank non elemental Jutsu yet lacks in chakra control._

 _Taijutsu: High D-rank, will upgrade in due time as her physical strength is not developed yet._

 _Fūinjutsu: Level 4 High Chūnin._

 _Speed: Low Chūnin bordering to high Chūnin (if chakra is applied)._

 _Stamina: High ANBU level._

 _Chakra Reserves: High ANBU level._

 _Chakra Control: Genin level_

 _Chakra Affinity: Wind and Water (No she will not have Ice release)_

 _Secondary Energy: Kyūbi's Chakra._

 _Blood Limit: None._

 _Dojutsu: None._

 _Official Rank: Academy student/ below Genin._

 _Actual Rank: Low Chūnin._

 _Favourite Jutsu: Shadow clone Jutsu_

 _Relatives: Minato Namikaze-Father, Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze-Mother, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze-Brother._

 _-More will come at later chapters_

* * *

 ***The whole thing of shadow snatching the souls of Shinigami will be explained in later chapters as Naruto will reveal to his any comrade or love interests.**

 **Hello my fellow followers of this holy for anime/manga lovers called fanfiction. I'm your dear author/reader mark and this is the next instalment of my story, yeah I know that there is a very long gap between my first and second update but I have a valid reason.**

 **Firstly my beta reader '** **Tertiary' is currently unavailable because her new study session doesn't gave her too much free time to spend.**

 **Secondly I'm still working on my plots as giving Naruto all the superpowers in silver platter is so boring plus there are too many stories like that.**

 **Third I need a beta reader urgently, as English is my secondary language. So any hopeful person who is interested in giving me a hand to improve my story can pm his/her email ID.**

 **I'm really grateful to 'Tertiary' for her valuable advices.**

 **Thanks to' Mika the supreme Ninja & NarutoNega' for their moral support.**

 **Do me a favour and please review it since every honest opinion is a good review in my book. Tune in to know the suspense also any suggestion for pairings or harems are much appreciated. Also be on the lookout for any new chapters for my current story and challenges I will be putting up later on, in the meantime, goodnight (or good day).**

 **-Dadofmad007 signing out.**

 **-P.S. This story will be a slight crossover.**


	3. Arc I: Commencement Part II

**Greetings, my fellow Naruto fans this my improved version of "The Mortal Who Ascended" so please enjoy.**

"We are human" human talking

' _Yes author is Human but are you sure about readers Ku Ku Ku…'_ human thinking.

'Shadow are you looking at me when I'm in the shower' telepathic talking.

" **Not at all master."** demons/denizen/summons/or any ethereal being talking.

' _ **Soooo… hot master has become quite a catch'**_ demons/denizen/summons/or any ethereal being thinking.

' **Naruto-kun~ you left your sealing supplies'** demons/denizen/summons/Ethereal being telepathically  
talking.

 **[Author Notes/author butting in the matters of character]**

 **Disclaimer: This story is only published for entertainment purpose with no use for earning money, I do not own any anime but I do owe this Tale.**

 **\- Beta' by TFenn & Immoral Pidgeion so do appreciate their hard work and time with some good graces also to make this story understandable.**

 **-Thanks to Arashi no Yami and shinnagami for their general opinion.**

* * *

 _ **Konohagakure no Sato, Ninja Academy, December 21**_

The atmosphere of academy is nothing like usual at all. Each of the students were getting anxious and excited at the same time over the same thing - to become what they wanted to be; A Hero (Mio); A Slacker (Shikamaru); A Womanizer (Sasuke); A Proud Heir (Hinata, Kiba and Shino) To Declare love (Ino and Sakura); A Mighty Kunoichi (Tōka); and to a certain absent redhead boy, it will be his first legal step to seek the truth behind the events that unfolded at the time of his birth and maybe even beyond it.

Some of them were chatting gibberish to ease their nerves while some were silently nauseating over their previous four years at academy, hence the abrupt sliding of the entrance door is more than enough to gain the notice of each pair of eyes inside the room. They were focused on a boy around their age who had too pale skin to be called healthy and straight black hair, plus a creepy smile plastered on his face which maked him all the more peculiar. He also had dull black eyes which contrast with his translucent-looking pale skin. He was carrying a small backpack, while wearing a short black-and-grey jacket with red straps, a tantō was also strapped on his back. The rest of his outfit consisted of a high-collared midriff shirt, black pants, shinobi sandals and gloves with his index and thumb fingers exposed. His jacket had a long right and a short left sleeves.

Their minor staring competition was halted by the sudden appearance of Iruka using **Shunshin no Jutsu.** With a sour face and some bruises and injuries, he cleared his throat to break the strained science.

"Good Morning, today sure is a big day for all of you as from now on you will be recognized as an Honourable Ninja of Konohagakure no Sato and will be placed on Genin squads according to the mutual decision of our Hokage and Jōnin operatives. The person standing to the entrance of our classroom is an extra Genin from a previous batch and will join you because we have an open spot in our graduation class, so please treat him nicely"

 **[A/N I bet my candy ass that each of you have read it over and over about it, I'm not repeating the foolish part of where Mizuki Steals the Forbidden Scroll and whatnot.]**

"Yes Iruka-sensei." strutted all would be Genin's in a sing-song voice while many of them were jabbering about their new comrade's attitude and appearance.

To satiate the eagerness of his fickle students he gestured towards the unknown occupant to introduce himself to his new team mates. Like a sheep put off by shepherd all of them ceased their discussion to find out more about this odd addition in their already rowdy flock.

"Hello everyone, my name is Sai with no last name and my speciality is long to mid-range support using Ninjutsu, kindly treat me as your equal." He kept smiling all along his rather monotone introduction and concluded it with a short, polite bow.

The series of questions that flowed towards him halted midway as the redhead Namikaze appeared in a smoke less **Shunshin.** Without giving Sai a second glance, Naruto resumed his position in the class as he sat down. However Naruto gained full attention of newbie, _'Smokeless_ _ **Shunshin/Kawarimi**_ _is presumed as a skill that requires chakra control similar to a Tokubetsu Jōnin, yet he executed it like a dilly-daily task._ _Danzō-sama did warn me that the elder sibling of the Jinchūriki is the sharpest knife in his generation, probably much better candidate for jailing the Kyūbi than current one. This might prove to be a jeopardizing factor in my mission unless I make any false moves.'_ His commentating abruptly halted as Iruka motioned him to join the class and take the only empty spot, a single seat beside Naruto and Shino.

"Now to that everyone knows about our new addition, Sai, I will leave you to make an acquaintance with with him after the announcement of your Genin squads. Team one-, Yes Sakura?" Iruka responded as he saw the said pinkette raising her hand to ask something.

"Sensei, how do you get so injured? And aren't we supposed to wait till Mizuki-Sensei arrives?" There are some things that never change, and one of them is Sakura's incurable brattish personality and fan-girlish epidemic(only for Sasuke). These are some of the quirks common in civilian turned Ninja students. Although, Iruka did take notice that even the latest addition of his class was looking at him. He sighed in resignation _'guess there is no harm in telling them a simple roundabout story '_.

"Sakura-san, I gained these injuries in a failed attempt to commit a new **Fire Release Jutsu** and Mizuki-san is dispatched from the village for a mission. Before you ask, the mission details are confidential to all but the Hokage and the person/team assigned for the respective task. These are the precautions taken by Hidden Villages to prevent the outcrop of important info." The collective sound of 'oh' was the response he got from his naïve audience - bar some students (namely Naruto, Sai and Shino, _'come to think of it, if Shino didn't greet him then he would have chalked up as a mute.')_

"Before any further interuptions let me inform you about your team arrangement. From team one is Ami, Ryuzaki and Kosei. Team two to four are still in use, along with team six and nine so I will jump on to Team five, consisting of Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Tōka" – he was interrupted by a loud howl from Kiba, followed by someone uttering something along the lines of 'proving his love' and the sound of someone else bashing their head against the desk - courtesy of Tōka (who was placated by her best friend Mio.) The whole scenario was so irritating that Iruka was now thinking about quitting his job as an Academy Instructor while feeling deplorable for the rest of the unannounced team five. They were silenced by the irritated Iruka using a certain **Head Expansion Jutsu.** Coughing in his fist to gain their full attention, plus to release the strain he gained on his vocal chords, Iruka resumed speaking.

"I am going to repeat that. Team five consists of Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Tōka and Namikaze Naruto, your sensei will meet you at training ground sixteen." The lack of hullabaloo caught him off guard so he looked up from his clipboard to see a scene resulted him a large sweat-drop by dint of change in the atmosphere as most of the fangirls were too shocked to say anything. On the other hand, Kiba and Mio were consoled by their respective Uchiha friends. Curiosity got the better of Iruka, so he looked up to see the reaction of elder Namikaze, which resulted him gaining another sweat-drop as the spot occupied by Naruto was now empty with no sign of him. Shaking his head to fight a losing battle with his emerging signs of migraine, he cleared his throat to announce his next team. "Calm down everyone - and Team five? You may want to leave to catch up with rest of your missing teammates."

Before Kiba could think a way to approach Tōka, she did a quick succession of hand seals and disappeared in a cloud of white smoke, which left Kiba alone to trek his way to the training ground sixteen.

"Now where are we...? Ah here! Team seven your members are Aburame Shino, Sai and Namikaze Mio. Team Eight will be Haruno Sakura, Hyūga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke and the last team is next generation of the traditional Ino-Shika-Cho trio, namely Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chōji. All of your respective Jōnin Instructors will pick you from here, so take a lunch break, but don't go too far from the academy. Oh! And before I forget, the Rookie of the batch is Namikaze Naruto, and accompanying him is Rookie kunoichi of the batch who is Uchiha Tōka. The spot of dead last is acquired by none other than Inuzuka Kiba. Please be a great person before you become a great Ninja. This is my last lesson to you class, so best of luck and may you become whatever you want to be in your life, for now it is a farewell to all of you." Bidding his goodbye Iruka silently executed **Shunshine** to the Hokage tower. He had a duty to inform the Hokage that the teams were announced and the Genin candidates were waiting to be picked up.

* * *

 _ **Konohagakure No Sato, Hokage tower, Afternoon of December 21,**_

Arriving in a usual whirlwind of leaves, he passed the corridor and greeted the secretary to gain permission to enter the office of the Hokage and go to home. After some time an ANBU squad exited from the Hokage's office and he was summoned in by the Hokage. Knocking at the door, he is met with a calm order to enter.

"Good afternoon, Hokage-sama." Iruka greeted and got down to a kneeling position.

"At ease Iruka-san, now what is the current progress of teams and how well would they be fit to work as a unit?" Minato asked him, as he fiddled and fidgeted with some random official papers on his desk.

"Hokage-sama, may I have permission to speak freely?" After getting an affirmative nod in reply he continued, "The teams are rather confusing this year as usually team seven is to be considered as Heavy Raid with a minor tracking unit by improvising resources, team eight used to be a tracking and recon squad while team ten is used for information gathering and subjugation." Minato gave another shake of head which indicated that he was listening, "But seeing the current conditions, Team five is best team to become a Heavy assault team with the capability to promote to an all-purpose squad in future, followed by team seven as it is fit for both heavy assault and tracking using the capabilities of Shino and Mio while the transfer student is a wild card. Team eight is rewarded with another Dojutsu kekkei genkai to fill the blank left by the absence of Inuzuka and Aburame yet they are basically a team which is perfect for short skirmishes, espionage and tracing. The only traditional team configuration used is team ten which was succeed in past." Iruka took a long breath as he ended his report.

To his surprise, Minato stood up from his chair and walked over to the window of his office, a window that oversaw the lively visage of Konoha, and gestured for Iruka to stand at his side, when he arrived there, Minato spoke up in a soothing voice.

"Umino-san, what do you see from here? People, shops, kids anything that come to your mind first." Iruka don't know what is the motive of this question but he answered none the less.

"I see the happiness of this village and its citizens." Iruka stated rather bluntly. At that moment, Minato shook his head and looked Iruka dead in the eye.

"You know what I see, Iruka?" He shook his head in denial so Minato elaborated. "I see all the lives and families that were destroyed by my decisions, I see the peaceful visage of the village that is brought down by the cost of lives and each of them were lost by dint of my inability to make the right decisions. But this goes off on a tangent from our current discussion of team placements. As I was saying these team combinations are made by Sandaime-sama, Jōnin operatives and myself. This year's batch is truly blessed as each team is taught by a living legends such as 'Copy Ninja – Kakashi' who is training team seven, 'Genjutsu mistress' Kurenai who is Instructing team eight and Sarutobi Asuma - one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja – who is in charge of team ten, thus all of them are in capable hands, Umino-san, and will become splendid Shinobi." Minato said with a smile, while Iruka mentally counted the teams and got worried for unit one and five.

"Hokage-sama, don't tell me you left Teams one and five unchecked?" he asked in the mix of panic and anxiety.

The smile on Minato's face was replaced by a feral grin "squad one will be used as Ninja support and Mailing squad and their sensei will be Yamashiro Aoba - if they pass the real test. Squad Five is to be a Heavy Assault plus Assassination squad and originally Kakashi was chosen to be their leader, but on the spur of the moment, a better candidate badgered me into giving him team five. You are already on time to watch their true Graduation test." His grinning only increased in between his talking as he moved to pull out the crystal ball from his desk drawer to watch team five's test.

Iruka saw the person who is posing as Team five's sensei and he fainted on spot while muttering along the lines of 'Impossible' or 'I should be taking a vacation this year'.

(-_-)

"And here I thought that this would ease his nerves…" Minato drawled out as a stray chuckle escaped from his mouth.

* * *

 _ **Konohagakure no Sato, Training Ground 16, December 21**_

The scenery of training ground sixteen was gallery proof of Konoha's sterling beauty, this training ground was engulfed by the foliage and rows of trees and other green things. The only opening was by a sizeable pond which had crystal clear water. In the middle of the pond, someone sat meditating to kill time till his squad arrived. The waiting period was reduced by the arrival of his first Genin student Namikaze Naruto. _'Well, it seems that someone does know what to do when you move into unfamiliar territory.'_

Naruto appeared at the edge of training ground sixteen, and as he knows of the mock Genin test and true Genin test courtesy of Shisui and his big mouth, _'sometimes I do wonder how Konoha remains at the top of the food chain despite of having people like Shisui and Kakashi.'_ His musing was interrupted by the sudden arrival of his second teammate, Uchiha Tōka. _'Great so much for stealthy approach but she do have a blood relation with Shisui'_. The girl's face looked like a dainty blend of horror and relief, which finally settled on relief when she took in her surroundings.

Her flashy arrival was a two sided sword as it was so glaringly obvious that their jōnin sensei was alerted of Tōka's presence and will search the perimeter for her missing teammates. _'If he goes for search and annihilate strategy then he would be left open for any surprise attack or stray traps. Although he is a veteran Ninja so he must be used to these type of odds which will provide him an extra edge, hence my best bet would be to observe his reaction and act accordingly, after all there is no need to rush in.'_ Some swift combined movement of wrist and fingers and he disappeared from the view of anyone bar sensor type Shinobi, executing " **Genjutsu: Mirror Mirage** ".

Scanning the area, Tōka got the perfect idea what happened to her "Darn it! Stupid **Shunshin no Jutsu** , never takes me to the desired place, I bet only nutcases like Aniki could execute it perfectly." She said as she stomped her feet on the ground making a small imprint of her heel. She swept the area one more time and started to walk away. She had took only one single step to leave the place when a strange thing happened. A baby monkey stepped out from the tree canopy. Faster than she could react, he snatched her forehead protector from her left bicep and ran off in the dense foliage of training ground. She was going to chase it, but before she could do anything, a stray kunai embedded itself in her path, the only out of ordinary thing about kunai was some paper neatly tied on its handle. To make sure it was not rigged or a trigger to activate some kind of trap, she plucked a Kunai from her utility pouch and cast it toward the embedded kunai. The resounding clang of metal is the only reaction she got and both bladed weapons laid around on the ground harmlessly. Sweeping the area once more, she found out that there was nothing dubious. Sighing, she decided to pick up the weapon plus it would also give her the general idea as to what was written on the paper.

She is cautiously approached the stray object, and as soon as she bent to pick it up, Kiba jumped out from the foliage and his abrupt entry earned him a jab square in his face. The unnoticed attack clearly caught him off guard which resulted him in gaining a bruise on his left cheek. Groaning inwardly while muttering some stray cusses here and there, plus the licking of his partner, Akamaru finally managed to get him up. Looking around to lash out at his assaulter, he was met with the visage of none other than Tōka whose back was facing him.

"What the hell! To-chan, is this any way to treat a clan heir like me? You should be welcoming me with praises and kisses not by the kicks and cusses." He exclaimed but all he got in reply was a Kunai pressed on his peg, tentatively he looked up only to find Tōka face to face with him, _'so fast I haven't even heard her…'_

Tōka is really in no mood to have any useless banter with her horny fool of a 'team mate' and the last comment only served as an addition to fuel the fire. _'This mutt has the gall to goof around and to top it off he asked me to kiss him, this heathen is asking for a royal Uchiha special ass-kicking and he will get it.'_ Pumping some chakra into her feet, she covered the distance between herself and Kiba in seconds and pressed her kunai just under his tool. She saw him go stiff from the shock and this served to boost her already massive ego.

"I see that now you understand the difference between our skills, you can't even hold your own against me you worthless trash and still you ask me to praise you. I would love to teach you some tricks puppy but I have a stupid monkey to skin so later…" She applied some more pressure to prove her point and Kiba did the wise thing to remain silent, after all it would serve him no purpose to lose his junk before having any fun.

"And you will address me properly as Uchiha-san, anything else and I will feed ' _it_ ' to Akamaru." Bobbing his head in agreement all the while covering his precious jewels, Kiba dropped down in relief when she left him alone to resume whatever she was doing.

"Great first day of my career as Genin and I lost both my proof of Ninja as well as my pride to be alpha, at least there is no one besides me and Tōka" he muttered it while sulking in the tree shade. His danger sense kicked in as he felt an oppressing aura released ahead of him and the source of that foreboding feeling was his short tempered Uchiha teammate. Looking at the source of her tantrum he saw piece of crumbled paper residing on the floor. They say that curiosity killed the cat but this time using dog would be more beneficial and make more sense. _'Should I take a peak or should I stay here in safety. Nah, it would definitely worth it.'_ Picking up the crumbled piece of paper he unfurled it…

( )(O. O)( )

And came across a crudely drawn monkey face. Ignoring it, he looked down and saw the message in neat writing;

" _Team five this message is the detail of your first mission assigned by your Jōnin in command,_

 _The mission is as follows;_

 _You have to show me your own forehead protector to remain in my team, you have all the time until the sun goes down, just to inform you that the person who shows up first, will be automatically promoted to the rank of chūnin. So if I were you then I should have been hurrying my ass off right now..._

 _By any stroke of luck you obtained your own forehead protector before exceeding the deadline then come at the exact same place where you found your message._

 _Your dear sensei_

 _P.S. you can use any means necessary to complete your objective including the usage of lethal weapons and Jutsu._

 _Ja ne._ "

Flipping over the note to find any leads he got another message

 _Oh, I forgot to tell you but unless you obtained your forehead protectors then it will be turned over to Hokage-sama and you are to be stripped off your rank as Genin. Although you could join the Ninja academy once more to graduate next year._

 _._

 _._

 _._

" _Don't just stand there morons get your asses in the gear and do some work."_

Finishing it up he saw that Tōka is balling her fists in frustration. _'So much to become a Genin...'_

"Hey To-, ahm-um… Uchiha-san what do you think of this letter because my forehead protector was also stolen by those damn chimps." He was interrupted by the death glare of a certain female Uchiha.

"You are a scatterbrain, aren't you? Look around us! Our forehead protectors are missing and the first person who got here after our sensei is also missing. So what do you get from it, genius?" The sarcasm was practically oozing in waves as she totally demolished the remaining dignity of Kiba.

Sighing, she controlled herself and began to form a strategy, _'Naruto must have a head start as he is nowhere near and I've no leads to follow plus mutt here has also got fooled by those pesky chimps…_ _㈐1._ _Bingo! Mutt here can snoop the forehead protectors' out In the meantime, I will roast those damn monkeys alive!'_ After scheming it some more, she explained her plan to Kiba which he frantically followed, after all it's the best deal he was given so far.

Naruto was watching their farce from the side-lines and thinking whether to get into this or remain at the fence, _'But there is nothing to gain, so why did sensei lie to them to say that those monkeys have stolen forehead protectors from each of us… there is something much more fishy than searching a single object. What do you say shadow?'_

' **And here I assumed that you forgot about me, Naruto-kun, so why don't you come here to have some proper dialogue?'** Shadow was rather exited to see her master as he was the only person whom she had forged a bond in her eons long life.

' _Shadow you are way off your mark this time, though I may visit you as soon as you give me a helping hand to pass this idiosyncrasy.'_ Naruto didn't like it to manipulate her charge but when situation calls he will not hang back to use any underhanded means.

' **Cross your heart.'**

' _What!?'_

' **Promise me, Cross your heart and vice-versa, these are the ways you humans pledge oaths, right? Then vouch for your previous words that you will visits me after this exam.'** The furious reply of shadow is came out of nowhere or so Naruto thought.

' _Shadow aren't you making it a too big of deal?'_

' **If this is t** **hat minor for you than simply do it, after all this is your best bet to get second opinions unless you prefer to consult with your** _ **Team Mates**_ **.'**

Naruto chuckled at his charge's words _'Shadow, you can tempt a devil to pray with your honey tongue, but before an Uzumaki you are still a novice, even though as a present to pull that off 'I promise to speak you face to face', is this good enough for you?'_

' **Could be much better if you agreed earlier, though beggars can't be choosers.'** She said in a very Mio-ish way, when she pulled a successful prank.

' _Sorry to make short of your celebrations but I'm still attempting this test Shadow._ ' The deadpan tone of his voice made it crystal clear that his patience was running thin.

' **Yeah, pardon me Naruto-kun, where were we...'**

' _Focus shadow focus, those forehead protectors,'_

' **Ah! Right those forehead protectors are simply a diversion,'**

' _So you are saying that?'_

' **Exactly! Haven't you noticed the line where Kiba says that the first person to obtain his forehead protector will become Chūnin? Now tell me how many people became Chūnin by simply completing a seeking mission? The answer is…'** She left her sentence hanging.

' _None, not even the prodigies like Itachi, Kakashi, Orochimaru or Minato could do that plus there is no way a mere Jōnin have any say in the promotions. Only Kage of the hidden village himself/ herself or in front lines the Jōnin commander could pull that off. Assuming your theory to be true, then first objective given by Jōnin is a white lie, anyway it still doesn't explain why those monkeys left my Ninja Headband?'_ he asked with a contemplating expression on his unseen visage.

' **Pull your socks up Naruto-kun, I expect much more than that from you, but to put it simply, your Jōnin put you in the spotlight to fight on his/her behalf while he/she evaluates all three of you from his/her hiding spot. To put it simply it was a win-win situation for him/her and to prevent the trading of Headbands he/she specifically emphasized that everyone should present their 'own' headbands. In other words –'** cutting her off Naruto said the remaining bits of this test.

' _In other words Tōka and Kiba would have been forced to fight me, unless neither I nor they back down for Chūnin position. A golden opportunity to tempt us in a fight to gain everything while on the other hand if we let go of our greed then all of us can gain something. That's it, he intentionally twisted our arms to pit all of us to face each other at the same time. Hence the main motive of this is to put the Team's well-being above any individual gain. This is a teamwork challenge.'_ Naruto was about to cancel his Genjutsu to inform the true meaning of the test to his team mates, but was stopped by the familiar nagging of Shadow.

' **Stop it Naruto-kun! Seriously what happened to you? Are you even thinking about the consequences? You have a classic Tsundere female in your hand with a superiority complex, plus an Idiot who has an inferiority complex with a head so thick that it can even put a rock to shame. Those obstinate are the people you are talking about, what do you assume the first thing they do when you confront them? And your Ninja headband doesn't help you in that regards too.'** She explained in a smug tone that says 'I owe you one'.

' _Damn it to the hell, he/she deliberately left me unchecked, shadow this person is the real deal first he/she pulled a double layered subterfuge on us and presenting the only level headed person on the group as foe to further decrease the success rate of our passing. A tactic which gauges both physical and mental strength of each Genin without his/her even moving a finger. This person is lethally efficient and holds no remorse for the foe. There is no way in the nine circles of hell we are being tested by some random Jōnin, this person is most likely an ex-ANBU Black Ops, Root operative or someone among those lines._ ' All the while scanning thoroughly around him to recheck his surroundings.

Meanwhile Kiba and Tōka are steadily making their way toward a giant tree, Kiba and Akamaru were tracing the scent while Tōka was covering their back for any surprise attacks. Abruptly Kiba halted and started to move towards the opposite direction, this was thrice he repeated it and now It was starting to tick Tōka off yet she kept her cool to analyse the situation, which reminded her about her third team mate, _'That bastard son of Namikaze getting on his high horse to become the Chūnin and here I, an Uchiha elite is stuck with this moving fleabag, when I get my hands on him I will-'_ her scheming*cough* mulling is avidly postponed by dint of her collision with Kiba's back.

"What the hell! What are you doing mutt? Have you got any leads or are just pulling my leg?" she finally exploded over him, releasing all her pent up frustration. "Plus Namikaze-teme is also leading us"

"Watch your tongue Uchiha and about our Headbands, those are constantly on move." He is also showing the signs of frustration and he has a valid reason for it. "And now that you mentioned it, there are only three odours coming from the source."

"So what last I counted there are only three headbands, three odours right. Then what's the big deal?" she asked in rather off handed fashion.

"This is where you got it wrong, there must be four smells three different smells of the headband and one of the courier, but right now there is only three smells." He explained to his uncaring team mate.

"So our carrier doesn't have a smell big deal, he/she will smell like roasted chickens when I get my hand on him/her." She finished her speech in weird grabbing motions and a chuckle that scared the crap out of Kiba.

' _I almost pity for you pal, she is a one fiery spitfire.'_

"Ahm-umm, Uchiha-san you got it all wrong. The carrier is not the person whose smell was missing. It was Naruto whose smell was missing." Kiba immediately created some distance between Tōka and himself, when he felt the far too familiar feeling of oppression.

She punched the nearest tree with all her might and created a small dent on its bark "Damn it, damn it, damn it, why did he gets first each time? Is it not enough for him to remain indisputably first in the academy that he got to the Chūnin rank before I could challenge him? Why damn it this is so unfair?" her bellowing drew the attention of both spectators, the first individual being their estranged teammate and the second was regretting his/her decision to test his students in this way, when he/she saw the emotional stress his/hers students were enduring.

' _I am sorry Uchiha-san but you have to bear with this until either me or Shadow find out the ringmaster of this show.'_ The guilt is quickly subdued by his logical brain as he felt a rare slip of chakra from his north.

' _Shadow.'_

' **Yes, this is the first time he missed a beat.'**

' _He?'_

' **Don't tell me you missed to get a feel of that callous chakra, from that alone I could tell that he is a male, to be precise a sexagenarian."** The disbelieve and concern are equally present in her voice as this was the first time she saw her master get so careless and emotionally stressed.

' _Right, Now I want you to watch my back, because so far he has proven to be a hard nut to crack.'_ This is the first time he was really going to fight with someone as shrewd as he himself.

Forgoing his **Genjutsu** cover and **Resistance seals** Naruto sprinted to the position of his would be target, all the surrounding's passing him as a blur of brown and green. This was his top speed - without the aid of chakra - a pace so fast that it would rival any normal Jōnin in sheer amount of speed. The restriction seals were also beneficial to increase his raw strength of body muscles, at the level he was at, he can still give any seasoned Chūnin a run for money.

' _How far?'_ Naruto asked, breathing in between tree jumps.

' **Uh-oh! We got some company.'** Grudgingly Shadow admitted that they have completely forgotten about the rest of team Five.

' _Don't beat yourself shadow besides let's have some fun with them, they will listen to me either willingly or I will beat it into them.'_ Smirking at the opportunity to go wild, he now realized his mistake _'he baited me into this'_ chuckling _'Even though I managed to perceive him, he still conned me by acting as a decoy. What a devious guy he is.'_ Dodging a Kunai strike he felt three presences at his 3 O'clock, letting loose a hearty chuckle he turned to face his team mates.

"You two should learn a proper way to greet people, especially a person who could help you, but I assume that might be a bit too much for a dimwit puppy and a stubborn girl like both of you." This light hearted Jesting earned him a snarling Kiba with a tight-lipped Uchiha. Baring his canines, Kiba jumped once more in a futile attempt to jab him on the face, his punch connected with a stray tree Log. _'Smokeless Kawarimi, how can he be so fast?'_

"Looking for someone, come on Inuzuka-san that can't have been your best shot?" the further talking was interrupted by the enraged yell of Kiba.

"Stay still rascal… and treat it like a duel between men." The petty proudness of the Inuzuka heir was still refusing the odds as he struck one more time from behind and got the same result.

"You say fight between men but there is only one grown up here and two children throwing a temper tantrum over some toy they lost to monkeys." Chuckling at their irritated faces, he was about to tell them his scheme but this time the 'Emotionless Princess' called dibs.

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"** A large globe made of concentrated flames of searing hot fire collided with his form, curtsey of a certain pissed off Uchiha. "That should teach you to never disrespect an Uchiha." Satisfied with the end result she was about to turn her neck but felt a sharp blade poking over her neck

' _So much for 'Emotionless Princess' she is more like a 'Tsundere Princess' *shivering* may god have mercy over her lover/husband.'_ Was the thought of a speeding Namikaze and much to his annoyance Shadow was doubling over since she heard it. Jumping over a stray log, he grabbed a stray branch of a nearby tree to perform a soundless moonsault to blind side the culprit.

"Maybe, but your Jutsu is still useful to cook our food Uchiha-san." A voice grumbled from behind her and a black Tactical Ninjatō is further pressed to her jugular to make his point clear 'get off of your high horses'. "Both of you are outplayed by our sensei's wits, listen to me closely he/she first put..." he continued his explanation which left both Tōka's and Kiba's mouth like a gaping goldfish.

"Okay Namikaze you have presented us a believable theory, but that still not enough to earn our trust. You have to provide us something solid." Tōka was the first one to recover from the shock to make any logical conversation.

"I second that." Kiba chimed in too.

"Very well, I will give you something as a bail against me." He pulled his right sleeve and unsealed his real forehead protector from a storage seal and putted it in front of them.

"What's this trickery Namikaze?" Kiba demanded the now confused Inuzuka heir.

"This is my real Ninja headband, the one on my forehead is fake one that I created to play ninja in my childhood." He said as he tossed his headband toward Tōka, her eyes are squinting with suspicion as she circled around him sceptically, "Oh, don't give me that look Uchiha, I would rather let you hold it than a mutt who could lose it right before his eyes. So is this enough to earn your trust or maybe both of you prefer to chase that baby monkey carrying your spare pieces of cloth?" seeing their facial expressions he smirked lightly. ' _Just like clockwork hook, sinker and pull; now that is taken care of, it is only matter of time before he confronts us directly as his first plan was spoiled by me he-'_ , "Huh, sorry but did you say something?"

Somewhere on the training ground seven Kakashi avidly felt as if someone is continuing his legacy meanwhile Minato and Iruka face-palmed in Hokage's office while praying respectively _'Kushina will beat me black and blue' and_ _'not a mini Kakashi too'._ Back to the training field.

"I said that where did you get that blade?" Tōka repeated herself rather casually, but on the inside she was drooling over to get her hand on something this majestic.

"Yeah it was one heck of a show piece." Kiba further added, doing nothing to hide his excitement.

' _I can bet my life over it that if Kiba had a tail it should have been waging right now.'_ This earned him another melodious laughter from Shadow, **'Oh! – Naru- Naruto-sama do –do you want me to die out of laughing?'** the voice came out in between the fits of uncontrolled laughter. ' _No Shadow I want to make you as happy as I can...'_ he disconnected his mental link for time being to end any further discussion, but his last thoughts spurred something new in the heart of Shadow.

"That sword is a Tactical Ninjatō - a souvenir from a friend but it is a long tale for another time, right now we need to find your headbands. After all we have only an hour left." The last statement halted their further inquiry as they looked towards sun and true to his word it is gingerly sinking down in the horizon.

"Inuzuka-san, please continue to smell the area for any foreign odours, same goes for you Uchiha-san don't let your guard down. If my theory is correct then our host must be keeping a watchful eye on each of us." There is still some pieces of this puzzle is missing.

'He was still watching us Shadow, I can feel it that he is watching us but can't pinpoint his location.' he looked around to see anything out of place, sweeping one more time he saw a slight bending of light on the right side besides an old oak tree, like refraction of light. Looking around casually he saw that Tōka has also spotted it and from her body language she was about to jump over it. Placing a hand on her shoulder he locked his captivating eyes with her alluring black orbs in silent truce.

Casually wandering some more to reduce the distance, he nodded once more in to confirm it with Tōka and disappeared in smokeless **Shunshin**. The next thing both Tōka and Kiba saw was a black clad figure jumping out from the foliage. The figure turned his posture towards them and his below‒average stature, with some random gray hairs clearly visible in the disappearing lights of the dusk sky. His appearance starts with much lighter combat attire at some point, consisting of a black jumpsuit, mesh segments over the lower portions of his limbs, and a green gauntlet that covered much of his right arm. He also wore an armored hood with a bandanna‒like forehead protector over this, tied with two long straps, and a porcelain face mask designed as monkey completed his uniform.

"So you lads finally sensed me?" wheezing out he gauged each of them through the eyeholes of his mask.

"Hello, I am your Jōnin instructor and we will revise the first lesson of Shinobi battle arts –"

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"** A massive orb of roaring flame is hurled towards their Jōnin sensei, flames so hot that even the radius of five feet around the fireball is also begins to burn. As the doom ball continues to sear its way so does the target in question raised his right hand and created a simple snake seal, his chakra was kneaded into his feet and before anyone could blink, he disappeared but not before whispering;

" **Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu!"** Thinking that he had left the area, Tōka was about to brag about it but suddenly a pair of hands grabbed her calf and next thing she knew, she found herself buried neck deep into the ground.

" **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu** is completed, Now that we have put down the spitfire of your team, we can resume our lessons. Shinobi combat 101 is hand to hand combat or in general language **Taijutsu** , Shinobi lesson 201 or **Ninjutsu** is a combat oriented over the kneading and using your chakra to manipulate in any elemental or non-elemental technique that can be seen or felt in reality. For example; **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu:** A technique where chakra kneaded inside the body is converted into fire and expelled from the mouth either as a massive orb of roaring flame or as a continuous flame-thrower. The scope of the attack is altered by controlling the volume of chakra that are mustered. The released flames will engulf their target, and leave a crater on the ground's surface. This technique apparently requires more than average chakra reserves", ' _and most Genin_ _should not be able to do this technique.'_ "Now Shinobi lesson 301 or popularly known as **Genjutsu** are techniques that are employed in the same fashion as Ninjutsu, requiring chakra and hand seals. However, the primary difference between the two is that the effects of Genjutsu are illusory; instead of attacking the victim's body, like Taijutsu or Ninjutsu, Genjutsu techniques manipulate the flow of chakra in the victim's brain, thus causing a disruption in their senses." Taking a deep breath to fill his empty lungs he moved his eyes to see that both remaining students are now eyeing him warily.

"Males are certainly level headed in this team to let me finish my speech. Regardless you have three quarters of an hour to complete your task but your last obstacle is to fight me and unless you managed to put a scratch on my armour, you will be demoted to academy students. You can use any weapon or Jutsu that you all deem fit… Some last words of advice from me is unless you are aiming to kill me, don't waste your breath." Giving them a fair shot he got into the basic stance.

Team five was standing in front of him as Tōka was now out from her confinement by the joint effort of Kiba, Akamaru and Naruto. Looking around, Naruto saw that each of his team mates were going for it individually. _'A person who uses Monkey as subordinates, can carry out Ninjutsu utilizing merely one hand seal and we have barely scratched the furthermost capabilities of this threat. To conclude it he knows everything taking that he used an almost fool-proof strategy against us yet one mistake he never expected; unexpected thus he never counted for you Shadow.'_

' **Keep this up and I might consider dating you, though this person is not a random out of mill ninja** _ **Danna-sama**_ **."** This remark is really filled the missing holes, it is the last part of this puzzle.

"Hey Guys, how many Ninja in our village can dish out Earth Release Ninjutsu flawlessly?" All of them are now confused by his question, though Kiba got it as an opportunity to impress his 'To-chan' thence the response was obvious.

"There is no time to play twenty questions Namikaze, either spill it or shut your trap while I handle this monkey-guy." The smug grin on her face was quickly wiped down by a hearty laughter.

"You – handling – me, watch it kid I can wipe the floor with you, even without using arms on my worst day!" his chuckling only served as oil in the fire, scratch that it served as gunpowder on the raging inferno. Kiba was gnashing his teeth in anger, this is the last straw to his already thin self-restrain.

Before any of his team mates could react, the black clad Jōnin was sitting idly over the pile of bodies made by none other than Kiba and Akamaru. The red faced Kiba is now howling for his blood and this is not the end of his humiliation as Tōka is doubling over on the ground, _'I tried Shadow, didn't I?_ ' thought Naruto sadly in resignation.

' **Naruto-sama, this was the forgone conclusion we came up with so don't beat yourself over it, still the more demanding issue is to deal with current test, you are now back to plan B.'** this assessment was the most probable conclusion he come up with when he drew out his strategy.

' _Right, as they are right now, they can't even be used as distractions.'_ Naruto was now going through a chain of hand signs as he released his chakra into atmosphere and settled for the seal of confrontation as he executed ' **Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu'** . Water vapours condensed and created a translucent veil of mist. During this Naruto continued to follow-through his first offensive technique since he entered in this test as his left hand - illuminated by the concentration of chakra - glowed until he whispered;

" **Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga!"** a beastly hound assembled of stark blue lightning shot out toward the estranged Jōnin who looked the approaching demise in a mild curiosity and barely restrained amusement.

" **Fūton: Daitoppa"** , suddenly a huge gust of wind neutralized the combination of Jutsu _'this brings back the memories of golden days,'_ **,** "You are good Namikaze-san, but a chain is as strong as its weakest link." The now clear visage of training ground revealed to him a visage that truly flattered his veteran heart _, 'so they are mock attacks to distract me while he recovers his comrades.'_ There stood a slightly roughed up Kiba with a more than pissed off Tōka and their saviour was situated in the middle of them. His body language was as calm as cucumber while his midnight blue orbs are fixated on the Jōnin's form, studying even the slightest twitch of muscles. _'Namikaze, there is something in your gaze that make me see him in your visage. Although he gained those eyes due to his tragic past but you possess them since the time I first seen you, despite all of this the glaring question of the day is why you possess the same eyes like that heinous monster?'_ his thinking is staggered by the attack of Inuzuka heir. This time, Kiba's speed was drastically improved – and add that to his heightened senses and agility, a rather deadly combo for any **Taijutsu** battle. This surprised attack nearly caught the dark clad Jōnin off-guard, right claw strike on his abdomen was instinctively diverted, followed by a jab that was already blocked as a hard knee strike collided with Kiba's chest. Kiba sailed across a few feet in the air and would've collided with the hard bark of a tree if Naruto hadn't caught him in mid-flight. Following up Kiba's lead Tōka launched into traditional Uchiha **Interceptor Fist**.

A right hook aimed to his face was simply diffused by left palm strike, she tried to grapple him using both her hands, a traditional way to restrain movements. This was a fine strategy but a flawed-one against someone who was drilled to counter the Uchiha **Taijutsu** style from his childhood. Countering her grapple by a swift close line, he jabbed her in the centre of her waist. The force behind the hit left her eating dust through pain. _'Both of the clan members have too much pride to back down even when the odds are glaringly obvious. They are moderately good with their clan Jutsu thought they lack the most basic element of a Shinobi, stealth.'_ Glancing towards his male students he saw that Kiba has minor bruises, also a paper cut on the lower lip was bleeding. Diverting his eyes towards Namikaze, he saw that he was perfectly fine and was currently aiding the spunky she-Uchiha. A high pitched female yell of "Back off Namikaze" and pink dusting at the cheeks of Tōka, she yelled at being transported by a fireman's carry. It was too much of a reminder of a certain part of his favourite book to take thus he started to giggle perversely as lot of scenes of Icha-Icha Fire and Heat begins to play in his head.

Looking around, Naruto saw that this was the all too familiar sound of a perverted giggle, a sound that was responsible for the wrath of all the female populace. Then he saw the all too familiar look on Tōka's unblemished face. A murderous look similarly sported by Kushina whenever Kakashi forgets the rules of Namikaze residence. *shiver* a cold chill managed to irrupt from the base of his spine, that was all the hint he needed as he put down his female baggage ever so slowly 'cause one wrong touch and he would have to run for his life.

"Namikaze, just for this moment I will tag team with you to kill that pervert." The cold edge in Tōka's voice was the final nail in the coffin, which resulted in gears cranking in his mind. _'This would kill two birds with one stone as her revenge and our passing ticket.'_ He nodded to show his agreement, turning around both of them were facing the giggling Jōnin, a stray side way glance confirmed their unspoken strategy 'we attack him simultaneously.'

Like a bullet, they sped through the training ground as Tōka took the first hit by hooking a roundhouse kick to the face of still giggling Jōnin. Smirking mischievously at the last moment, she diverted her momentum to roll out from the way of Incoming sword strike from Naruto. A lethal move but the experience of countless battles worked wonders for Jōnin, hence he managed to pull off a **Kawarimi** at the last moment, _'close call but I should have guessed it, and still they managed to pull that feint off by just a glance. Might as well take them seriously otherwise it would put a massive dent over Konoha's reputation if I was beaten by those wet behind the ears lads.'_

"You are the first person to evade my 'Mayonaka no ōjo' from such short distance. There are only few Ninja who can pull of both earth and wind release that ingeniously, also to toy with the fighting style of both the Inuzuka clan and the Uchiha clan - that alone managed to strike down all but three people. Namely, Hatake Kakashi, Kakuzu of Takigakure and you, but the summon - specifically 'Monkey contract' - is the dead give-away of your Identity, thence please grace us the honours to fight with you face to face or should you prefer me to announce it…" Naruto trailed off in a dim baritone voice. His eyes were now bouncing with utmost delight, both of his gloved hands are shaking with the sudden rise in adrenaline in his body. This was a sign of his barely controlled excitement for the up and coming skirmish with his now identified opponent - at least for him.

"Stop your substandard gibberish, Namikaze and tell me who the hell this monkey-man is!" the ferocious screeching of Tōka was discreetly silenced by a sudden hit on her tender neck, on the part of none other than our redheaded Namikaze.

"Sometimes it is wise to be sincere with our own advice Uchiha-san." was the last statement she heard before passing out due to the abrupt decrease of chakra flow in her brain. Carrying her to the base of the tree, alongside where Kiba was lying, he belly dropped her on the harsh pavement.

Turning around he came face to face with an enraged and now unmasked Ex-Hokage, in the place of porcelain mask now there was a gaunter face sporting wrinkles and liver spots, the obvious proof of his old age, there was a single line running vertically under the outer corners of each eye which end on his cheeks and to complement his old age there was a mole on the lower left part of his nose. This was the face of once renowned as the 'God of Shinobi' which later was joined by the title 'The professor' for his unparalleled knowledge in the Shinobi arts, alongside the ingenious command over all five basic chakra Nature transformation. This was the face of the third leader of the village known as Konoha, Sandaime Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The thin lipped frown plastered on the elderly visage over his sensei's face was clearly displaying the Jōnin's disagreement over the actions taken by Naruto.

"Namikaze-kun what is your reason for sucker punching your comrade? This is the clear violations of the principles of Konoha, therefore it might as well become the cause of your failure." The steel in the voice of the ex-Hokage clearly betrayed his old age and the message was pretty straight forward - that 'tell me anything you want but I will never approve of it' message.

"This may not look like it but each of my actions were taken to help my comrades. You very well know that she was way too prideful to back down, and further resistance done by her will only be in vain as the test was already completed and it would not take us anywhere if we continue splitting hairs." His midnight blue marbles were now gleaming with anticipation as if he was getting a kick out of this whole fiasco. Both of his hands were now lightly shivering, a sign of an adrenaline rush, yet Naruto's firm grip on his emotions was still holding him back.

"Kindly elaborate your previous words, Namikaze-san." Hiruzen's mind is really running in circles after hearing Naruto's reply, _'After all I haven't called it a day, so what's he cooking?_

Naruto is now seriously considering that this was all an extended **Genjutsu,** _'Ding-dong, The Professor is really fooled by a simple_ _ **Genjutsu**_ _, I am so going to rub this on Shisui's gob smacked face.'_ Seeing that so far his sensei is waiting for an explanation he only said three words " **Genjutsu: Nise shūi".** There was a moment of silence before the surroundings of the training ground shimmered away and there he saw that Naruto was now standing on the sidelines of training ground and in his right hand he is gripping all of their headbands his left hand was holding his now broken Monkey mask.

"How?" Sarutobi was still feeling dazed by the recent revelations.

"Well for starters, it all begins when the technique, **Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu,** was used, the brief obstruction of your eyesight was more than enough for me to create a **Mizu Bunshin** of myself. This clone acted as bait while I was stealthily lurking around in the training ground to exploit any openings in your guard using **Genjutsu: Mirror Mirage.** The much needed opening came when my clone and Tōka got too impatient 'cause of your outward show of perversion. Seriously this is what you called professional behaviour, giggling like a schoolgirl when you are testing some wet behind the ears brat! Meh, don't glare at me for your slip up, so where were we... oh! Yeah, you got distracted and that was the moment I executed **Genjutsu:** **Nise shūi**. This all worked out just as I planned, so what do you say sensei? Isn't this good enough to become your students?"

Sarutobi was feeling rather nostalgic over the similarities between Naruto and a certain traitor, _'No not again this time it will be different as I am going to personally guide him, to become a proud and loyal Ninja of Konoha.'_ His self-assuring optimistic thoughts helped him to get moving over his past misdoings.

The tension in the atmosphere abruptly vanished due to the smiling face of Hiruzen. Feigning a fake cough he chimed in a too chirpy way "You got me. A well sought out scheme if I must say so, but there were several flaws... The first one was having no fallback plan and last one was your peril over your teammate's abilities. Remember this Naruto-kun, Konoha is the only Ninja village which prefers the lives of our comrade Shinobi over anything, but to go against all odds to protect our precious people - this is the main reason of Konoha being the top Shinobi Village since the founding. My sensei, the Shodai-Hokage named it as "Will Of Fire". This concludes your first lesson as Genin, meet me here tomorrow 8:00 am sharp, same goes for your unconscious teammates." Giving him the last bit of advice he disappeared in a leaf **Shunshin**.

"Phew! This would be accomplished a lot easier if I exchanged my teammates with Mio's." Looking around he got several tick marks as he read the note that was oddly sticking right out in the middle of training ground. The note said;

"Namikaze-kun, as your sensei I must command you to wake up your teammates and give them a once over of the recent events before excusing yourself for the day." Crushing the note rudely he used little bit of **Fūton** manipulation to tear it to shreds. Taking a calming breath, he precisely used some nearby herbs and salts to disrupt the slumber of both the nuisances in flesh.

Taking a page of his sensei's book, he wrote down everything. He left the letter and their headbands behind before exiting from the hazardous area. The loud yells mixed with feminine screech of 'curse you Namikaze' confirmed his doubts.

' _Eh! That went better than we expected right Shadow.'_ He was really skeptical of the abrupt fits thrown by Shadow when someone comes into close proximity with him or tries to flirt with him, _'maybe she is getting possessive about me'_ , his attention was shared by the stray drops of rain, detaching his eyes from the path as he saw that a storm that was surging in Konoha's sky, _'there goes my sushi, may as well return to home.'_ He took a deep breath before using the **Shunshin no Jutsu,** but little did he knew someone had other plans for him.

* * *

 _ **Moments ago; In the Hokage's office,**_

Minato was looking forward to hear about the last report of the day. Iruka had retired for the day when the fight escalated, otherwise he would have done something drastic to save his not so little pupils. He is wistfully thinking about his elder offspring, _'to outsmart Sarutobi-sama, little Naruto is really becoming an excellent Shinobi,'_ His daydreaming is postponed by his secretary, "Ah! Hikari-kun, did you say something?"

A feint mumble of _"Kakashi disease is contaminating Hokage-sama"_ and _"will report this to Kushina-sama."_ was surely heard by the Hokage as he was sporting animated tears, muttering " _why me Kami-sama?"_ This was the epic moment when Hiruzen entered his former office, while giving a deadpan gaze at the antics of Fourth and his underlings. Putting his left hand in his Ninja pouch he desperately fished out for his loyal tobacco pipe, the only thing which could sooth his irate nerves, courtesy of both male Namikazes. Finally finding it, he lit it with some mild **Katon** manipulation and inhaled a large drag from it.

The mild smell of burning tobacco had once again done its divine wonders as it granted him both pleasure and attention of the now collected Hokage. Standing up from his leather chair, Minato and Hiruzen exchanged a brief greeting. Dismissing his secretary, the current Hokage took a comfortable lounging position on the office couch, alongside the former Hokage. They simply sat there for some time enjoying the tiny break from their daily practices.

Putting a calf over his thighs, Minato got relaxed in his comfortable seat. He unsealed a scroll containing a large bottle of Sake with three cups and some snacks. Looking back and forth from Minato to cup, Former Hokage iced his gaze towards now smirking Namikaze. Hiruzen is relived from further brainstorming.

"Seriously sensei you are losing your shine, first you got outfoxed by little Naruto no less, and now you completely let your guard down." the familiar voice of Jiraya chimed in from third empty seat at his tangent, his **Ninpo: Meisaigakure no Jutsu** was long gone and he was now gulping down the searing bitter liquid drink from his porcelain cup.

Chuckling at his former students queering, he took a tiny sip from his cup, "Times like these are the reminder my long past prime Jiraya-kun or should I remind you that I'm a seventy two year old geezer who is simply counting his days." In the second go he chugged down rest of his share.

"Sensei, Sarutobi-sama! Can we please cut this short - otherwise Kushina would kill me!" Senior Namikaze and his drinking partners were visibly frightened by the mention of the redheaded fiery Uzumaki woman, but soon Jiraya's fear was overshadowed by his perverseness. He let out a perverted giggle as he imagined all the kinky stuff that Minato and Kushina may have been doing or done since their wedding, _'Those_ _ **Uzumaki:**_ _**Kongō Fūsa**_ _are some seriously exotic stuff, ooh! The wonders those bonds can do are marvellous sexy yet dominating, fragile yet feisty just like the user. This is it! It would be a sin - no - a horrendous crime if I don't capture this literature in pages, I must do it for all my devoted readers and fellow perverts.'_ Jiraya was now sporting a stupid grin with a huge amount of blood gushing out from his nose.

Ignoring the antics or their resident super pervert Hiruzen's face turned into a serious one "Lord Hokage the team, assembled by Genin Inuzuka Kiba-san, Uchiha Tōka-san and Namikaze Naruto-san have passed the Genin test. Namikaze-kun was the key element in this exam, not only because he demonstrated exceeding talents in all the Ninja arts, but he also utilized them perfectly. This doesn't mean that his team mates were not capable, Naruto just outshines them in more than one way, both young Inuzuka and Uchiha are considerably proficient with their clan techniques. Their team will be addressed as Genin team five and I will command them by filling the role of Jōnin sensei. There is only one issue in this Genin team – trust. All of them have some individual distrust with each-other, though their reasons are still unknown." He poured down some more sake to sate the thirst of his parching throat and drank it greedily.

Minato fondly smiled at the praises his son got from his Jōnin instructor as he slowly savoured the burning sensation of alcohol.

"That is great news Sarutobi-sama! The minor misunderstandings will be ironed out by themselves, when they spend some time as a team." The excitement in his voice was too much to miss as he prepared to dismiss the meeting, but his attempt to depart was stopped by none other than Jiraya the Gallant. Jiraya, who was laughing hysterically just moments ago; was now sporting a straight face while shaking his head over the naïve thinking of his pupil, _'Minato-Minato, either you are taking us as fools or you're fooling yourself.'_ Chuckling at the fact, he scrunched his gaze towards acting Hokage.

"Do you honestly thinks so little of us Minato?"

Stiffening at Jiraya's remark, he sighed and settled down in his previous position, his shining blue eyes lost all the mirth. His forehead crinkled in a thinking pose as he finally opened his mouth. "You are concerned over the reclusive behaviour of my son, as well as the techniques he used being unattainable to anyone besides Jōnin. That is if we don't count his Genjutsu techniques, those are some unparalleled Justus that even I don't know about." The last sentence is spoken by so much sadness and regret that they would have balled their eyes out if they were any lesser person, but luckily it will be a cold day in hell when Shinobi's of their calibre let their emotions control them as they nodded in agreement.

Minato's words doesn't indicate a very healthy father and son relationship no matter how you look at it. A father should always keep the tabs on his son's activity, it didn't matter that it may be his personal life or professional life. Jiraya gingerly voiced what both of them thinking. "Geez Minato! How can it be possible? No scratch that the real question is how are the things working in your home if you don't know about your own blood?" The air in Hokage's office got too heavy to stand because of the Killing Intent released by Yondaime, both elderly shinobi got their message 'keep your wrinkly stinking noses out of my personal life.'

Jiraya got it perfectly fine when he saw the thunder like face of his prized pupil, _'well we did cross the lines.'_ Casting his eyes around Jiraya saw that Sarutobi was also in the same boat. Raising both of his hands, he said "Okay-okay pardon us Hokage-sama 'cause we snooped into your personal affairs as the conversation got off on a tangent, but the facts remain the same here, Minato. You have to query about the conflicted behaviour of your son before it gets too late." As soon as the words left from his mouth, all the evidence of the unleashed killing intent disappeared, but the shadow of sadness was still etched into Minato's features.

Seeing that both of them were treading on thin ice, they got up. Jiraya left in his usual way by using the office window as door and Hiruzen proceeded to leave through normal way but not before giving Minato a piece of his mind, "I cannot say that I understand the circumstances you and your family went through, this might be a pretty sore topic for you, yet I will tell you one story you can't deny. There was a person before you who guided this village with all his heart, never backing away from his position and it worked. It worked so well that Konoha became the undisputed champion of the Elemental Nations and he became the only shinobi in the world who mastered all the basic Nature affinities but all this glory, fame and power came at unparalleled price. His eldest son died right in front of his eyes and younger one left him to mourn over the loss of his aniki, not a month after this Kyūbi incident happened which cost him his final support in the form of his dearest wife. If you look at his career then it isn't too different from yours, if it is, than it was only to be worse than yours. You lost both of your students by the hands of the Shinigami, but his previous Genin team was the epitome of failure as his favourite prized pupil became the Notoriously famous criminal and biggest traitor in the history of Konoha, only falling second to Uchiha Madara, the second student got so scared from the loses of her loved ones that she now refuses to forge any bonds and the only loyal student that is still carrying the torch for his love, resulted in him becoming a hermit to refrain from hurting his precious people as well as putting on the mask of a Loony pervert... So what did you learnt from the above story?" a lone tear escaped from the aged eyes of Sarutobi as he remained on the doorsteps, still waiting for the answer of his successor.

The dream that he found too charming in his childhood was now within his grasp but at what cost, all the fairy tales he heard about Shinobi rescuing princesses and becoming the light of this cursed world was shattered long ago by the silent strokes of reality. Despite all of these failures he still chased after his first dream as an orphan child to make a happy family, but now this dream was crumbling against all odds and he was so reckless that he hadn't noticed it until the water got too high. ' _I'm a complete loser regardless of what other thinks and by dint of my foolishness the family I dreamt of is merely one step away from falling apart… Oh Kushina what would you do if you were in my shoes?'_

"Nothing, no answer *chuckling* and here I thought that you are a genius prodigy that barely comes in a generation, yet you are too lying yourself that all the sacrifices you did was for the good of the village. Tell me Minato which lie is the most frightening one…" The spot on accusations of 'The Professor' once again left him with no words to defend, how could he defend himself when each of them are nothing but truths? Every accusation was totally spot on to the shadowy side of his glorious past. Some of them were even sharper than any object that pierced him in the thirty years of his Ninja career.

To say that Minato fell short of the expectations Sarutobi Hiruzen had, would be the biggest understatement of his entire life, leaning further to lock his sight with the now self-wallowing man, " A 'lie' that deceives oneself is the most frightening lie Yondaime-sama… you can still redeem yourself by doing the right things for your family." He whispered the last bit of advice as he closed the door. Looking back he saw his younger selves shadow repeating the same mistakes _'At least you have someone to look after unlike me who have no one… No one until I met your son, his behaviour is too cynical for a teenager and too identically similar to a certain someone._ ' The sudden sound of wood meeting wood and retreating footsteps of ex-Hokage is all that left to accompany the now sitting Hokage.

Turning around he saw that a storm was brewing on the horizon of Konoha, _'why can't everything be as simple as we expect from life and how is that my every question somehow ended up on you little Naruto?'_ as his gaze locked to the framed picture of his once smiling faces family. Turning the locking seals on, Minato flashed away from his office. During this whole fiasco all the Kage scale shinobi failed to notice a spying bug that left the office only a while ago.

* * *

 _ **Konohagakure No Sato, Namikaze Household, evening,**_

The sudden flash of yellow is all the warning they received as Minato appeared in the dining room and was greeted to a ladle on his head, as his beautiful wife playfully scolded him for using the Jutsu in her domain (kitchen). Not a second later, he was assaulted in a tight hug curtsey of both female Namikazes which he welcomed. He cast a quick eye towards the hallways and dining room to find Naruto, but all this was in vain. He looked towards Kushina's unblemished face that was looking down and answered all his questions.

Their waiting was reduced as the person in question suddenly appeared right in front of his room, his attire soaked to the core. Without uttering any pleasantries he went into his room. Some minutes later he came out of his room wearing a fresh pair of green trousers with a long white button up shirt. The attire gave him a too steamy look as he purposely left the upper buttons undone which showed his chiseled chest, the stray droplets of water only increasing his charm. Walking casually, he dropped down on the nearby couch while muttering "I'm home." He combed his hair using his left hand while sitting casually.

"Welcome home dear, unlike someone here you at least shows some manners." The upbeat tone of his mother mildly surprised him, but the presence of Minato was all he needed to connect the dots, deciding to humor her he played along.

"I aim to please unlike that person you are talking about." At this remark, every person in the Namikaze household got eerily silent while looking him skeptically, that really ticked him off. "Hey, what is with the look, I can yank the chain guys... can't I?" the irritation in his response was all they needed to snap out of the trance.

"It's just that you never joke around or something, you are always grumpy and you have a stick so far up your arse that sometimes you look like an old Uchiha, by the way those are a nice choice of attire you have. You should consider wearing those type of clothes more often." Mio voiced the thought every one was having as she moved to sit beside him, a faint dusk of pink crept on her cheeks, clearly visible to all of them.

On the other hand Naruto got as stiff as board when he heard the comment, while thinking over the cause of his delayed arrival. He controlled himself from showing anymore outward reaction to the remark as he smirked and picked up the slices of apples he had prepared while conversing.

Finishing up his first slice he slid the slice towards Mio, who took her share and passed it back. They ate quietly while Kushina started to fix an early supper. Seeing this Minato sat right across to Naruto and pulled out the random scroll from his robes to pretend that he was working as he took in the behavior of his son.

The moment Minato sat with them Naruto felt an uneasy sensation, like someone was watching him, glancing sideways he saw the sorry excuse of spying, _'Seriously! He is the Leader of our Ninja village *snicker-coughing* we are doomed._ ' He put the last slice of apple in his mouth and got up to wash the dish and like a clockwork Mio snatched it while scolding him, saying that household chores are for the ladies and all, he tuned her out as he lightly patted on her head, a show of brotherly affection.

Mio was now hiding her face behind the plate, almost all of her blood was rushing towards her head, making her dizzy and her eyes turned into the spirals. The whole scene was too amusing for both of their parents, turning around Mio rushed into the kitchen all the while bumping into random utensils and objects. Steering his gaze away from Mio's retreating form, Naruto sat down on his usual spot and picked up a magazine from the bundle, flipping through some pages he locked his midnight blue eyes with the sharp sky blue eyes of his father "Hey Dad, is there a way to substitute your teammates?"

Of all the questions, Minato hadn't expected him to ask this question. _'That throws all the subtle talk through the window.'_ Clearing his throat he spoke up, "Sorry, son, but I'm afraid every Genin was handpicked by your Jōnin sensei and are irreversible, though why are you asking?" He was truly curious as he saw the whole fight through crystal ball. ' _The way they interacted with each-other was quite decent, dare I say that this was the first occasion in Konoha's history where a Genin team completed their graduation task and now the key person of this team was asking for a way out_ , _Naruto why do you make everything this complicated!?'_

"Never mind, just a random thought crossed my mind." If someone were to judge him by his behavior then it was the last mistake Naruto might do. In his nine years of training with Shadow, he became barefaced liar that it was like second nature for him. On the other hand Minato was too proud to practice something so underhanded. The micro hints shown by his face muscles only verified it, _'So Sarutobi did feed you his lies, oh a poor helpless old hat who lost all of his precious bonds - more like he butchered them to gain the sympathy of the general populace. Why can't Minato see that the old coot and company are simply manipulating him to do their bidding?'_ He stopped flipping the pages onto a page describing the third-rated condition of small countries who shares their borders with many major lands, especially Kusagakure. The reports are censored for civilian fraction and Naruto was not a naïve preteen brat, who believes every fragile lie that general media feeds.

" **Naruto-kun, just relax that 'Masked-man' had given us the scroll containing all rectifications you need. You can readily verify its authentication in the Konoha Health Center at an opportune time, after all it was just a walk in the park for you if we take in to account your previous deeds.'** Shadow was the voice of wisdom between them, plus she had the calming effect of her ethereal and sweet voice was too good to miss.

' _Excellent deduction, Kage-chan. Though first we have to find the seal he was talking about.'_ His first day as Genin rewarded him with more questions about his past, questions which can totally annihilate his identity.

' **I'm so glad to be any useful to you but right now you have to deal with more pressing issues… '** He knew that chat time was over as soon as he saw that Kushina and Mio had finished setting up the supper. Taking their usual spots, Minato took the center seat, Kushina and Mio took both stick to his either side, Naruto took his sit to the left side of Kushina. He had a valid point to do so 'cause Mio had no table manners, when miso ramen is included in the menu.

Mio was so ecstatic to have dinner family time after almost three months when they celebrated both her and Naruto's birthday. That excitement vanished like a candy in child's mouth when she saw that her cool big bro sat right beside her mother. Puffing out her cheeks she glared at him with her puffy eyes, only for him to brush it off like it was nothing. Putting her head down in defeat, she thought that she would rather change her seat, than mulling over her loses, she stomped rather childishly towards Naruto and sat right next to him. Groaning inwardly Naruto dished his share of ramen into his bowl and passed the pot to his right, _'seriously here I was, on the verge of an identity crisis and to top it off my dear little sister is now throwing a tantrum for something as meager as my sitting preferences.'_

"So tell us how was your day Naruto-kun?" Stirring some of his noodles, Minato pried to start a casual conversation with his short-spoken son. A casual question, which strangely garnered everyone's attention bar the person in question.

Chewing his ramen, he thought _'In one word it was Chaotic.'_ He put down his chopsticks and used the napkin to wipe some droplets of soup away while he turned to face his awkwardly smiling _Father._ "The day was boring and my teammates are only so-so, it could only be worse if anyone like Sasuke-chan *at this everybody snickered * was on my team _, 'though Kiba was on par with him when it comes for their pointless pride.'_ All in all it was a well balanced team. We just need to polish up our skills before doing something too risky. _'Trust is also required in any excellent team but in this case, my teammates have such arrogance that they will never be able to cross that bridge.'_ We will work just fine after some time." Picking up his chopsticks he resumed his meal but that was short lived for him.

"Oh! So who are the team mates and instructor of my awesome children?" the resident airhead of Namikaze compound badgered her way into the conversation.

Before Naruto can respond, the blond copy of Kushina chimed in, "My team mates are too creepy Mum, first is Aburame Shino - the arguably quietest boy of our batch. Kakashi-nii was as nonchalant as ever, even on his first day! Lastly iss a transfer student. It was our first day, but that doesn't make him any less weird than other two as he always has a creepy smile plastered on his face with a bizarre habit of nicknaming everyone around him. Trust me Mum! Tolerating all of them at once is too frustrating." Even though she deemed it as suitable reply, her heated gaze on Minato said otherwise. "Dad, what were you thinking when you created my team? Also, you separated me from nii-sama and Tōka-chan, it is not fair!" Her depression was quickly evaded as Naruto patted on her head with a charming smile. Mio's bright blue eyes were getting glassy in pleasure, her face was as red as boiled lobster by the sudden touch of her cru-err beloved brother. Kushina smirked mischievously at the blackmail material she got over her naughty daughter but soon she remembered that Naruto hadn't told her about his teammates. Using her left elbow she nudged her son and fixed him with a gaze saying 'It's you turn young man.'

Sighing he now put his empty bowl down on table as he gulped down some water to sate the burning sensation of pepper, he rested his chin over the intertwined fingers of both of his hands. Naruto eyes got sharper for a moment before he recollected his normal poker face, "My team was definitely as colorful as rainbow. A bunch of unblended brats, if I say so. Kiba is enthusiastic and headstrong like any Inuzuka ought to be, Tōka is too jumpy with a very short fuse. Man, personally I prefer her personality over any run of the mill Uchiha. They are too stuck-up for my taste, but it doesn't mean that she didn't have the typical Uchiha pride, it's just overshadowed by her Tsu-err natural behavior. Third was yours truly Namikaze Naruto. Hey guys, anyone baring Dad want take a shot on who our sensei is?" the cheerful façade that he was showing was really humiliating Naruto, but it was crucial for him to remain under the radar, at least until he crossed his latest hurdle.

"Sarutobi-sama." both Mio and Kushina yelled simultaneously, now sporting victorious grins.

"Geez! Tōka and her big mouth is really a party pooper. Well this was my Genin team, nice huh?" as he rubbed his back of the head sheepishly while both females nodded with Minato was now sporting an impish smile.

"Don't sell yourself this short Naruto, you were the show stopper in your team. Sarutobi-san told me how you trapped him in a Genjutsu so effortlessly to accomplish your mission. Though I wonder who taught you that Genjutsu." His encouraging face slowly turned into a cat got your tongue visage, both female Namikazes were now looking him with stars in their eyes.

"That's my son, I know you are good but this was awesome. I bet it was Shisui who taught you." The elder redhead was now crushing him in a one armed hug, unconsciously rendering him unable to breathe any oxygen.

"Tell me aniki, how did you fulfill the mission? Did you use the **Rasengan** or the **Shu** **nshin** like Shisui-nii, tell us, and don't keep it to yourself." Mio was now shaking him as she was now sitting in his lap, a rather compromising position from preteens like them but she was caught in the spur of moment.

Minato watched all the ruckus with a serene smile but it vanished as soon as he remembered his previous discussion with his predecessor and sensei, he was brought back into reality when he heard that Naruto was hacking and coughing while both the culprits are now fussing over his well-being. Seeing his happy family conversing over all sorts of thing made him skeptical of what Sarutobi said, _'Maybe Sandaime was merely paranoid by the ghosts of his.'_ Shaking his head he resumed is ramen soon followed by Kushina and Mio, Naruto eating his sushi. _'Wait how can he be eating sushi when all that Kushina cooked was ramen…. Too Troublesome."_ Somewhere, the entire Nara clan sneezed.

More time passed with Kushina teasing Mio for her bold moves *cough–sitting in Naruto's lap–cough*, with Mio pestering Naruto to a spar, apparently the ever famous Uzumaki superiority complex was still kicking in Mio's blood. Minato was filling in some random documents, sometime later they called it a day and settled in their respective beds to gain some shut eye.

 _ **Hokage's household, Midnight**_

Naruto was still twisting and turning in his soft bed, sleep was miles away from his body despite the tiresome events of day, _'Guess a little workout should calm my nerves.'_ Getting up from his bed he removed his nightwear to prevent it from getting sweaty as it would surely get because of the physical workout. Discarding his clothes he adjusted his **resistance seals** to level 7. Not a moment passed before he felt the effects, his moments becoming stiffer to adjust and as his muscles were straining from the simplest movement he made.

Stretching to work the kinks out of his body, he got down on floor to begin the first set of pushups. His body adjusted to the strenuous workout merely five minutes later as he continued as if on autopilot. His thoughts were rather focused on ensuing events that may come.

* * *

 _ **Naruto's Mindscape**_

Soon his world turned into the scenery of an exquisitely charming forest, a scenery which he remembered since forever. _'Huh I don't remember changing the flowers into Gladiolus and lily, Shadow must have got bored.'_

Turning around he saw that Shadow was now sporting an exotic outfit of a white and lime green Kimono top littered with red Uzumaki swirls, her top was exposing her shoulders and bountiful smooth skin of her back. Detaching his eyes from a rather dangerous area, he saw that she had donned her long ebony lock into a traditional bun which was kept in place using a red tulip. Some stray locks of hair falling to either side of her face to enhance her almost outward beauty. Continuing his observations, he saw a sight that left even him blushing. Shadow had discarded the need to wear anymore clothes over her nether-regions bar her lacy black panty. The top she was wearing barely covered her maidenhood. It also did nothing to hide her mile long milky legs. A sight which would have turned any lesser men into a drooling mess, yet Naruto was anything but that as he simply jumped up to perch atop a random tree branch.

' _This day is getting weirder by the second!'_ Pinching his nose to reduce the headache that would surely haunt him, he gazed one more time at Shadow and this time something else caught his attention. Shadow was now facing her master with a hopeful look on her face, which reminded her about her cruel fate. _'He can't see me even though we are just a few steps away, yet our feelings are still miles apart, what a lame joke pulled by fate.'_ As she looked at him with saddened expression. Her self-pity was brutally crushed under the loud yell of Naruto. She was so engrossed in her world that she totally missed his words, it only registered when she concentrated to them later.

"Dow… Shadow! God dammit are you listening to me? And here I thought she would rejoice that I can finally see her eyes." Naruto proclaimed with clearly downtrodden expression.

Before he could turn he was captured in the jail made by a pair of delicate yet firm arms. Looking up he saw that Shadows eyes were now glistening with water as she sobbed into his shoulder. _'Crap. Crap. Crap! Now I've made her upset.'_ Then he remembered a memory of when Mio got upset in childhood, Kushina would rub her head to cheer her up. _'Maybe, I should mimic it.'_ Shrugging lightly as he had nothing to lose, he started to rub her scalp tenderly, which worked like a charm as the sobbing of the distraught girl was reduced with each passing moment. Finally after who knows how long, she got a hang on her turbulence of emotions and looked him with joyous expression. Losing her grip over her master/lover she wiped the scarce remains of the tears she spilled. Feeling that his charge was completely fine now, he pulled out of the hug.

"How are they?"

"What?"

She gave him a deadpanned face.

"Oh! Right eyes they are so-so you know." She dipped her head with the response she got from her master.

"You don't like them."

"Nope." if she was depressed back then now she was drowning in the ocean of sorrow.

"I love them. Those eyes are a majestic green, perfectly shaped into almonds plus the slit only enhances the feral allure you have. Shadow, those are the most beautiful eyes that I've seen in my short life, I just can't wait to see how beautiful you must be." Each and every word spoken by her master now struck a chord in her heart, something which triggered her long lost powers. Her miasma was too dark, engulfing herself in a translucent barrier, the miasma had a thin veil of purple highlights. Naruto was forcibly pushed out of his mindscape. He tried time and time again to access his mental realm but all of it for naught as the barrier kicked him out on each occasion.

 **[A/N If you have trouble imagining it then search space-quack on Google. It is a phenomenon described in Date-alive anime, which belongs to its respective authors.]**

* * *

 _ **Naruto's room, hour past midnight,**_

Deciding to get some shut eye, he moved towards the bathroom to rinse off the sweat. Suddenly there were thunder strikes in the stormy sky, which gifted him with the silhouette of the 'masked man' perched atop his windowsill. Startled at the arrival of this unwanted guest, he barely managed to keep himself from dishing out any Ninjutsu attack. Getting a grip on his heart rate he slowly opens the window to let him in, a second or two later the 'masked-man' entered his room.

Not a moment later Naruto, dropped a towel on his face-err mask, looking gob smacked at the rude behavior he contemplated whether to teach this brat a lesson or let it slide. Realizing that it's somehow his fault too, to arrive at this hour like a thug or thief, he shrugged it off. After all, what can he do - abduct Hokage's eldest over such a trivial matter? _'That would only result in an unneeded uproar in the Ninja world, a thing that will bring all my plans back to square one.'_ Walking around, he discarded his soaking wet Akatsuki cloak and sealed it into a storage scroll. Now his attire was a skin tight, long sleeved, black t-shirt and simple black trousers with a shinobi utility pouch, ending with gray shinobi sandals.

Plopping on the nearby wooden chair, he found that Naruto had slipped into bathroom when he was fixing his wardrobe. Waiting for him, he picked up a random book residing on the bedpost, to be precise it was a novel but on the inside it was a book consisting many battle tactics. Some were finished and some were still in the developing stage. His snooping was lived short as a towel clad Naruto lightly coughed to gain his attention.

"Having fun?" The apprehension in the remark clearly delivered the message to the 'masked man' that he is not welcomed in Namikaze's humble adobe, especially at this hour.

"Oh! Naruto-kun, why are you giving Tobi such a cold shoulder, Tobi is a good boy. It's just that Tobi got scared when the downpour started, aren't you happy that Tobi didn't catch a cold?" the high pitched voice of Tobi may have awakened half of the populace residing in Konoha, if Naruto haven't activated the **silencing seals** in his room.

Getting irritated by the midnight drama, he glared ferociously at 'Tobi'. "Get to the point _Tobi_ , otherwise get the fuck out of my room." Everyone had their limits and Naruto was way past his limit to tolerate any bullshit, and the severed connection with Shadow only served as fuel on the matter.

Seeing that fun time was over, and his host was showing blunt impatience, he sighed, _'here I'm trying ease the tension and what did I have in reward? Curses and an order to get out. Geez what was that saying... birds of a feather, flock together.'_ Clearing his throat to readjust his vocal chords, he spoke in his natural baritone, "You ought to respect your elders Namikaze-kun, but I will forgive your insolence this time as I am too responsible for your behavior. Regardless I have more pressing matters to attend from our last meeting, such as giving up the coordinates of the lab. You will need it as you cannot perform DNA tests in Konoha hospital without ringing a bell." He pulled out a scroll with the insignia of a snake and placed it over the bedpost.

Unfurling the scroll, he gave a furtive gaze towards its content, "In this scroll, you will discover the detailed procedure of how to extract and match the DNA, along with the general directions of the lab from its previous owner, Orochimaru." Naruto's eyes widened at that. Chuckling over the reaction Tobi continued his elaboration, "You better be careful in that place. Who knows what type of horrors are sleeping there, waiting for a simple nudge to wreak havoc. If you manage to complete the task, then you will have proof that the DNA you have is in fact of your _Blood sister_. This will provide you enough proof that _you_ are not related to the Yondaime Hokage. Although you may thoroughly sate your curiosity by comparing your DNA with the fourths and his wife, yet one truth will prevail." Unsealing a dry Akatsuki cloak, he donned it as he proceeded to disappear, but was stopped by Naruto.

"Wait, what's the catch? I know for sure that there must be a ploy where you are desperately in need of me, and what's there to stop me from spilling the beans in front of the Hokage?" the threat made by Naruto merely earnt a chuckle from Tobi. Turning around he fixed his lone **Sharingan** eye towards his future puppet.

"Supposed you told all of this to the Hokage **.** What will you say? That a 'masked man' gave you all the evidence and you think he will believe you? A long shot in my opinion. By the off chance he believes you, what will he do afterward? Let you wander around the elemental nations to search for a person that you haven't even seen?" This raised a valid point. After all, Naruto knew all about Minato, he would never let a preteen outside the safety of Konoha without a supervisor, and that was only when Orochimaru was not involved. "No he will first coax you to let this matter go and when you don't, he will strap you to the chair in a T&I cell like a rabid animal to _erase_ the memories of this issue, using any capable Yamanaka, preferably Inoichi. Konoha will not risk letting this news go public as you are the eldest child of the famed Namikaze family, also being a prodigy in the Shinobi arts doesn't help you either. He is going to do whatever it takes to confine this whole event inside Konoha. Still, you may ignore me. After all, he was your father and you know him more than I ever could." All the while a vicious sadistic grin was spreading across his masked visage.

"I won't repeat myself so answer my first question as this is your last chance." Was the monotone reply Tobi got from his soon to be puppet - or so he assumed.

"Very well. Remember I told you that you are an Uchiha?" At this Naruto nodded, "It was only a half-truth. You were the last survivor of the hybrid Uchiha experiment conducted by Orochimaru, when he was still loyal to Konoha. I managed to snatch you from his grasp when you were a toddler and placed you beside your current sister when the sealing of Kyūbi was concluding. Also you have witnessed firsthand by using **shadow clone** in your Genin test that the Yondaime is vulnerable to even a B-ranked Genjutsu cast by you, you are smart enough to connect the missing pieces." As he sat down beside him.

"You cast a subtle Genjutsu over Minato and Kushina when everything was in chaos due to Kyūbi's catastrophe. Eventually it lead them to believing that I am also their child, but in reality I was just a lab rat who ditched his demise somehow." Naruto whispered now trembling from the shock of his life, his whole world was turned upside down by this last bit of information. Everything now fit perfectly into the puzzle. His distinct behavior, cynical personality and why he had the memories of Indra the progenitor of the Uchiha clan, yet still some things are missing, _'If I am an Uchiha then why the hell I haven't activated the_ _ **Sharingan?**_ _What is the term hybrid supposed to mean? How did I end up with the memories of the arch enemy of Indra, namely Ashura?'_

"Pretty much something went a little upside down, but you got it almost to the T." Seeing his face getting an inquisitive look, a look he was waiting for, _'Ah here comes the question of the day, what a pesky fool to be seduced by merely a glimpse of power?'_ Tobi inwardly smirked as he saw the typical Uchiha denial. Deciding to cut it short he raised his hand.

"I know you are going to ask me about **Sharingan** , the reason for its latency is a chakra seal placed atop the nape of your neck by me", _'OH well I am also going with the name Madara',_ inwardly snickering at his personal humor, he resumed the tale _"_ and the hybrid part is something that even I don't know about. To cut the chase, you will find everything you need in that lab as it was the place you were experimented on and remained in stasis state using Devil cares what machines." He lied through his teeth. Seeing that a light of the hallways lifted, he proceeded to leave the room but at the last instance he tossed him a black book similar to the book he was messing with, "This book contains all the things you need to break the seal retracting the chakra flow in your **Sharingan** plus the basic knowledge of the Sharingan, consider it as an early Christmas present." Naruto was bombarded by the multitude of emotions, as well as being caught up with words. A major part of them was self-loathing and anger, the loathing came from the way his journey of life begins. _'Who am I kidding? This whole Shinobi world is sick, twisted to the core, not much different from a pack of vultures. Hunting and devouring the weak is the way of nature, and nothing much has changed for us humans too. But if the words of this freak-show held even an ounce of truth, then my sister must be out there in Kusagakure, going through the horrors of hell and beyond '_ Naruto's fury was wholly diverted towards the corrupt Shinobi system and his own inability to purge it.

' _Times like these are when I need to you most Shadow, (who's now engulfed in god knows what.)_ ' Tobi has been satisfied, gazing at the brief flickers of distraught displayed by redhead, further enhancing it by his trusty lone **Sharingan** eye as he disappeared into the swirl originating by his crimson eye.

A lone tear slipped from his eyes, as he berated himself for his inability. Looking down he collected both the scroll and book dispassionately, as he proceeded to seal then into an invisible sealing tattoo engraved over his bicep. A place he hides all his confidential belongings. _'If Shadow were linked then she wouldn't let up over my condition, guess there is only one way out… If what that masked jester babbled contains even the slightest truth then I will not rest until I find my little sister. I will leave no stone unturned till I manage to find her.'_

'Knock, knock'

Gazing up at the clock, it was half past two at night. Putting on a pair of flip-flops, he moved to open the door. In front of him, he saw a shivering visage of Mio in her pink night robes and bunny slippers, who was keeping her eyes clamped while clutching some plushy like a life line.

"Mio, are you alright? What are you doing?" before she could utter a single word, yet another thunder strike shattered the serene science of the night. That was the breaking point for already scared Mio as she pounced over Naruto, sticking to him like a glue while crying on his chest. She even ignored the fact that Naruto was almost naked, gesture that answered all his previous questions. _'Guess some thing's never change.'_

He proceeded to sooth her nerves using some **Yang-Manipulation,** lightly rubbing over the small of her back using his free arm. This worked like a charm as she drifted into slumber, substituting Naruto for her plushy. Smiling at the 'moe' she was emitting, he mulled over to put her into her bed. On cue, another roll of thunder struck, which resulted in the tightening of her embrace. _'Geez it sure is raining cats and dogs out there.'_ Seeing the face of his cute little sister he made up his mind, _'Guess she is crashing with me tonight.'_

Tucking her in, he laid down on his futon.

"Good Night nii-sama..." muttered a sleeping Mio.

"Goodnight Imouto", ' _wherever you are'_ as he tried to get a power nap. As soon as he closed his eyes, a black sheen of miasma envelopes him from head to toe, identical to the one that devoured Shadow.

* * *

 _ **Kusagakure No Sato, Random village, same time.**_

' _Goodnight Imouto, wherever you are.'_ Jumped a slumbering girl.

A young, preteen, bespectacled girl with dull red hair, donning a dirty white lose fitting shirt. She heard an affectionate voice whispering into her tiny ears as she haphazardly got up, awakening her bed partner in the process. The second girl was as silver braided beauty, wearing a simple black sleeveless top with a black underwire to cover her modesty.

"Karin why are you being noisy, nightmare?" Asked the silverette while rubbing the salts from her eyes.

"No, it's something else something much more realistic than any dream or nightmare…" Responded the redhead in bliss.

"What!" Was the intelligent reply from her bed buddy.

"Nothing Ryūzetsu, nothing at all…"

 **-And Cut.**

 **Arc I Revelations**

 **Chapter II Veracity**

* * *

 **Jutsu**

 **Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu:** This is the basic C-rank Doton Jutsu which changes earth into fine sand by channeling chakra into it, allowing the user to dig through it like a mole. This effect goes around the body (not just the legs), making it just large enough for a person to move through. The user can pinpoint where they are, despite being underground, by sensing the magnetic forces. They can also sense what is happening on the surface and use that information to launch a surprise attack on the enemy. One can also hide deep in the ground, escaping to a depth where the enemy can't reach. It also appears that after digging, the ground can be returned to its original state, leaving no trace of where the user entered the earth.

 **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu:** A D-rank supplementary Jutsu that conceals the user underground and drags the object of their attack down into the earth, robbing them of their freedom. Leaving them completely unable to move after they're underground. In addition, they can start another attack.

 **Fūton: Daitoppa:** A C-rank offensive Jutsu, yet it has enough destructive power to knock down a large tree. The wind from the squall can blow away all things in the user's line of sight. The technique can also be used in the form of a devastation stream of wind expelled from the user's mouth. There is also a variation of the technique involves a smaller blast of wind which gets ignited with flame.

 **Genjutsu: Nise shūi:** Nise Shūi, is a B-rank Jutsu which restrict the senses in the certain perimeter. This Jutsu completely detaches ones nervous system from his body and the only downside of this Jutsu is that even executer could get trapped in this Genjutsu when they executes it.

 **Genjutsu: Mirror Mirage:** Mirror mirage is an A-rank area altering Genjutsu that is used to cloaks the presence of the user from enemies, the requirement for this technique are very good chakra control and chūnin level chakra reserves to successfully casting because it requires expelling of chakra from over 80% of Tenketsu residing in Human body.

 **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu:** A C-rank Katon Jutsu where chakra kneaded inside the body is converted into fire and expelled from the mouth either as a massive orb of roaring flame or as a continuous flame-thrower. The scope of the attack is altered by controlling the volume of chakra that is mustered.

 **Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu:** A supplementary D-rank technique, The **Hiding in Mist Technique** is a specialty of the ninja from Kirigakure, where one causes a mist to spring forth by lifting up some water from either a pre-existing source or expelled from their mouth, then goes in and out of sight at will from within the pearly-white realm. The mist's thickness is controlled by the amount of chakra kneaded into it. It cannot fool the Byakugan, but, due to the mist being created with the user's chakra, any Sharingan and Rinnegan-user will see the mist colored by their opponent's chakra, which will effectively hide the user from the dōjutsu.

 **Ninpo: Meisaigakure no Jutsu:** An A-rank, high tier Ninjutsu technique more likely is a ninja escape technique that allows the user to control how light is reflected around their body with chakra inflections. The technique also erases the user's scent and shadow, and is usable on any terrain, making it ideal not only for covert maneuvers but also offensive strikes. Perceiving the user's position is possible only for ninja who are astute enough to observe minute variations within their surrounding environment, such as distortions of air currents in the immediate vicinity or distinguishing sounds, i.e. footsteps etc. The usefulness of this ability can be entirely negated by those with special vision or sensory skills, except for particularly adept users, who can completely erase even their chakra signature with it.

 **Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga:** By manipulating lightning chakra into their hand, the user can make the lightning expand to create the form of a hound. The hound remains connected to the user's hand, allowing them to control it during its attack. A C-rank offensive Jutsu often used by Kumogakure Ninja's.

 **Suiton: Mizu Bunshin:** This is most basic C-rank Jutsu, The **Water Clone Technique** is similar to the Shadow Clone Technique except it creates clones that are made out of water. Also, unlike shadow clones, water clones hold only one-tenth of the original person's power. Like other solid clone techniques, the clones can be used to perform tasks the user is unable or unwilling to do for themselves. The range of the clone is limited however, as it cannot travel very far from the original body without losing control. Like other clone techniques, if the water clones are injured enough they will revert to normal water.

 **Sunshine No Jutsu:** A high speed travelling C-rank technique which is commonly used by anyone above Genin ranked.

* * *

 **Special Weapon**

 **Mayonaka no ōjo:** midnight princess,

A sword (Tactical Ninjatō) forged by combining the power of Shadow into the chakra conducting metal. The affiliation with Shadow granted this sword some extraterrestrial abilities and unparalleled edge in any type of shade.

* * *

 **Character Status**

 _ **Name: Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze (Unofficially Uchiha)**_

 _Age: 13_

 _Sex: Male_

 _Height: 4ft 9in_

 _Affiliation: Konoha Genin (part of team five)._

 _Genjutsu: A-rank, can perform high level illusions due to having a part of Indra's chakra._

 _Ninjutsu: A-rank, can perform high level non elemental Jutsu._

 _Taijutsu: High C- rank, will upgrade in due time as his physical strength is not developed yet._

 _Fūinjutsu: Level 8 High A-rank bordering at S-rank._

 _Speed: Jōnin bordering to High Jōnin (if chakra is applied)._

 _Stamina: ANBU level._

 _Chakra Reserves: High Jōnin level._

 _Chakra Control: High ANBU level, merely a step or two away from Kage level.._

 _Chakra Affinity: Lightning, Water and wind._

 _Secondary Energy: unspecified._

 _Blood Limit: unspecified._

 _Dojutsu:_ _Sharingan (sealed)._

 _Official Rank: Genin._

 _Actual Rank: Low Jōnin. (Leaving Fūinjutsu)_

 _Favourite Jutsu: Shadow clone Jutsu, Genjutsu: Mirror Mirage._

 _Relatives: Minato Namikaze-Father, Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze-Mother, Mio Uzumaki Namikaze-sister, And an Unknown Sister._

 _ **Name: Mio Uzumaki-Namikaze**_

 _Age: 13._

 _Sex: Female_

 _Height: 4ft 7in._

 _Affiliation: Konoha Genin (part of Team Seven)._

 _Genjutsu: Non-existent, Neither effective until its Dōjutsu based._

 _Ninjutsu: B-rank can perform high rank non elemental Jutsu yet lacks in chakra control._

 _Taijutsu: Low C-rank, will upgrade in due time as her physical stature is still developing._

 _Fūinjutsu: Level 4 High Chūnin._

 _Speed: High Chūnin bordering to Low Jōnin (if chakra is applied)._

 _Stamina: High ANBU level._

 _Chakra Reserves: High ANBU level._

 _Chakra Control: High Genin level_

 _Chakra Affinity: Wind and Water (No she will not have Ice release)_

 _Secondary Energy: Kyūbi's Chakra._

 _Blood Limit: None manifested yet._

 _Dojutsu: None._

 _Official Rank: Genin._

 _Actual Rank: Low Chūnin._

 _Favourite Jutsu: Shadow clone Jutsu._

 _Relatives: Minato Namikaze-Father, Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze-Mother, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze-Brother._

 _ **Name: Tōka Uchiha**_

 _Age: 13._

 _Sex: Female_

 _Height: 4ft 7in._

 _Affiliation: Konoha Genin (part of Team Five), Uchiha clan._

 _Genjutsu: C-rank, may disrupt any B-rank Genjutsu._

 _Ninjutsu: B-rank can perform low rank non elemental Jutsu yet lacks in chakra reserves._

 _Taijutsu: Low C-rank, will upgrade in due time as her physical stature is still developing._

 _Fūinjutsu: Non-existing._

 _Speed: High Genin bordering to Low chūnin (if chakra is applied)._

 _Stamina: High Genin level._

 _Chakra Reserves: Low chūnin level._

 _Chakra Control: High chūnin level_

 _Chakra Affinity: Fire (may manifest another affinity in due time)_

 _Secondary Energy: None._

 _Blood Limit: None manifested yet._

 _Dojutsu: Sharingan._

 _Official Rank: Genin._

 _Actual Rank: High Genin._

 _Favourite Jutsu: Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu._

 _Relatives: Kagami Uchiha-Father (Deceased), Sena Uchiha-Mother (Deceased), Shisui Uchiha-Brother._

 _ **Name: Kiba Inuzuka**_

 _Age: 13_

 _Sex: Male_

 _Height: 4ft 9in_

 _Affiliation: Konoha Genin (part of team five)._

 _Genjutsu: D-rank, can perform low level illusions._

 _Ninjutsu: D-rank, can perform Jutsu._

 _Taijutsu: high D- rank, will upgrade in due time as his physical strength is not developed yet._

 _Fūinjutsu: Non-Existing._

 _Speed: Genin bordering to High Genin (if chakra is applied)._

 _Stamina: Genin level._

 _Chakra Reserves: Genin level._

 _Chakra Control: High Genin._

 _Chakra Affinity: Earth._

 _Secondary Energy: unspecified._

 _Blood Limit: unspecified._

 _Dojutsu: None._

 _Official Rank: Genin._

 _Actual Rank: Genin. (Leaving Fūinjutsu)_

 _Favourite Jutsu: None._

 _Relatives: ? -Father, Tsume Inuzuka-Mother, Hana Inuzuka-sister._

 _\- more will come in due time._

* * *

 **A/N**

 **This chapter is Soooo long that I got really lost in the middle of somewhere around the lines of Genin test. My friends really supported me throughout this whole chapter as writing solo is too frustrating, there was a time when I lost my drive to write any further but some nagging -cough*threatening*cough- of you guys pulled me back on the ride. A ride that everyone will be enjoying together for a very long time….**

 **Ok Straight to the point. This Arc will finally finish in next chapter and the throttle will be hard pressed from Chapter five, great news for action seekers that gore, flesh and sex will be presented and those who don't like it can enjoy with development of relations between each characters.**

 **Vote for the Pairings for Naruto are on,**

 **Tōka -** 01

 **Mio -** 01

 **Ryūzetsu -**

 **Hinata -**

 **Shadow –**

 **Harem –**

 **Other (even oc's are welcomed just send me the description and please don't make any yaoi/yuri requests, its just plain awkward for me you know.)**

 **My buddy TFenn is partnering up with me for a huge surprise for all of you thence all of you guys are welcomed to enjoy the party, till then have fun.**

 **out**

 **Peace**


End file.
